Dr. Gonzalez has just completed a correlational study where he found a strong association between parental expectations and children's academic achievement. In other words, children who perform well in school tend to have parents who have high expectations of them. However, Dr. Gonzalez can't tell which variable causes the other. It may be that high expectations cause children to perform better, or that children's better performance cause their parents to have higher expectations. This particular problem is known as
A)the bidirectional causality problem
B)the third variable problem
C)poor external validity
D)the experimenter expectancy effect

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The bidirectional causality problem refers to the issue in correlational studies where it is unclear which variable causes the other, as is the case in Dr. Gonzalez's study where it's uncertain whether parental expectations cause children's academic achievement or vice versa.

Dr Gonzalez Has Just Completed a Correlational Study Where He