Dr. Farah is an educational psychologist who is interested in studying the potential causal relationship between doing homework and academic achievement. In January, Dr. Farah has her students report their fall GPA (a measure of academic achievement) and estimate how many hours they spent doing homework during a typical week in the fall semester. In May, Dr. Farah measures the same variables again (the estimated number of hours spent doing homework during a typical week in the spring semester and their spring GPA). She finds the following correlations.

A colleague of Dr. Farah's asks her why she did not simply conduct an experiment. Which of the following is a probable reason for Dr. Farah's choice not to conduct an experiment?
A)It would be impossible to manipulate hours of homework completed.
B)It would be too costly/expensive to run an experiment.
C)It would be unethical to manipulate whether students are told to do homework for a semester.
D)It would take longer to conduct an experiment.

Question

Dr. Farah is an educational psychologist who is interested in studying the potential causal relationship between doing homework and academic achievement. In January, Dr. Farah has her students report their fall GPA (a measure of academic achievement) and estimate how many hours they spent doing homework during a typical week in the fall semester. In May, Dr. Farah measures the same variables again (the estimated number of hours spent doing homework during a typical week in the spring semester and their spring GPA) . She finds the following correlations.

A colleague of Dr. Farah's asks her why she did not simply conduct an experiment. Which of the following is a probable reason for Dr. Farah's choice not to conduct an experiment?

A colleague of Dr. Farah's asks her why she did not simply conduct an experiment. Which of the following is a probable reason for Dr. Farah's choice not to conduct an experiment?
A)It would be impossible to manipulate hours of homework completed. 
B)It would be too costly/expensive to run an experiment. 
C)It would be unethical to manipulate whether students are told to do homework for a semester. 
D)It would take longer to conduct an experiment.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Dr. Farah likely did not conduct an experiment because it would be unethical to manipulate whether or not students are assigned homework for a semester. It would be unfair to deprive some students of the potential benefits of doing homework, which could lead to compromising their academic achievement. Therefore, Dr. Farah likely used a correlational design instead to study the potential relationship between homework and academic achievement.

Dr Farah Is an Educational Psychologist Who Is Interested in Studying