An educational psychologist is interested in finding out whether a new instructional program is effective in teaching students a second language. She randomly assigns students to two groups. She trains one group with the program, and then compares the performance of this group with another group that does not get the program. This kind of study is best described as _____; it _____allow for a causal inference to be drawn.
A) a correlational study; does
B) a quasi-experiment; does not
C) naturalistic observation; does
D) a true experiment; may

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This is a true experiment because the educational psychologist randomly assigns students to two groups and manipulates the independent variable (use of the new instructional program). By doing so, she can control extraneous variables and infer causation. However, there may be some limitations to the study design that may affect causal inference, such as external validity or participant bias.

An Educational Psychologist Is Interested in Finding Out Whether a New