A sociologist studying American neighborhoods identifies a causal effect of income on the availability of healthy and nutritious foods.Specifically,people with lower incomes tend to live in neighborhoods where there are more fast food restaurants and less access to fresh fruits and vegetables.Given this finding,the researcher can be confident in concluding that the study has
A)face validity.
B)a reliable measure.
C)internal validity.
D)external validity.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The study has internal validity, which refers to the extent to which the researcher can be confident that the independent variable (income) caused the observed effect on the dependent variable (availability of healthy and nutritious foods). Internal validity is important for determining causality within a study, and in this case, the researcher has established a clear causal relationship between income and access to healthy foods within American neighborhoods. Face validity (A) refers to whether a measure appears to be valid on its face, without further testing, while reliable measure (B) refers to the consistency of a measure over time or across different researchers. External validity (D) refers to the extent to which findings from a study can be generalized to other populations or situations, but this is not the primary concern of the question.

A Sociologist Studying American Neighborhoods Identifies a Causal Effect of Income