You are evaluating a program to reduce employee turnover in XYZ Company. You randomly assigned the employees in the Eastville plant to be the experimental group and the employees in the Centerville plant, located 50 miles from Eastville, to be the control group. During the course of your research, another company in Centerville expands its workforce and offers a higher pay rate than XYZ. This event has created the possibility of a(n) ________ confound for your study.
A) local history
B) treatment diffusion
C) competition
D) instrumentation change

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

A local history confound occurs when an event affects the participants in one location but not those in another, potentially influencing the outcome of the study. In this case, the expansion of another company in Centerville and its offer of higher pay could affect the employees' decision to stay or leave XYZ Company, thus impacting the study's results in a way that is unrelated to the program being evaluated.

You Are Evaluating a Program to Reduce Employee Turnover in XYZ