In 1988 Paul Tracy and James Fox conducted a field experiment to measure the extent to which autobody repair shops in Massachusetts inflate repair estimates for collision damage claims to insurance companies. The logic of the research involved obtaining estimates for body-damage repair costs for the same vehicles, under conditions when the damage was covered by insurance and when it was not. In short, they took 1987 model collision-damaged vehicles to selected autobody shops. At each shop, they obtained estimates of repair costs for two cars, one of which was presented as being covered by insurance and the other of which was not. Whether a car was presented as insured or uninsured at a given shop was determined by random assignment. Statistical results clearly indicated that repair estimates were higher for vehicles presented as insured.
a. What is the independent variable in this experiment?
b. What is the dependent variable?
c. Suppose only male drivers in their early twenties posed as owners of the vehicles. What effect, if any, would this have on the internal and external validity of the study?

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The Answer of In 1988 Paul Tracy and James Fox conducted a field experiment to measure the extent to which autobody repair shops in Massachusetts inflate repair estimates for collision damage claims to insurance companies. The logic of the research involved obtaining estimates for body-damage repair costs for the same vehicles, under conditions when the damage was covered by insurance and when it was not. In short, they took 1987 model collision-damaged vehicles to selected autobody shops. At each shop, they obtained estimates of repair costs for two cars, one of which was presented as being covered by insurance and the other of which was not. Whether a car was presented as insured or uninsured at a given shop was determined by random assignment. Statistical results clearly indicated that repair estimates were higher for vehicles presented as insured.
a. What is the independent variable in this experiment?
b. What is the dependent variable?
c. Suppose only male drivers in their early twenties posed as owners of the vehicles. What effect, if any, would this have on the internal and external validity of the study?

In 1988 Paul Tracy and James Fox Conducted a Field