A researcher plans to evaluate a new reading program by measuring students' reading skill before and after the program begins. If all the students have high reading skills scores before the program begins, then the measurement procedure has a sensitivity problem known as a ____.
A) floor effect
B) ceiling effect
C) hypersensitive effect
D) hyposensitive effect

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

A ceiling effect occurs when a measurement procedure is not sensitive enough to detect changes or improvements in participants, because they are already scoring at the maximum level before the intervention begins (i.e., their scores have reached the "ceiling" of the scale). This can make it difficult to determine the effectiveness of an intervention.

A Researcher Plans to Evaluate a New Reading Program by Measuring