Many research studies use college student volunteers as subjects.What concern does this practice raise?
A) It is unethical to use student volunteers.
B) The results may not generalize to non-college populations.
C) Students in college are too young to be subjects of study.
D) The samples are too broad to be valid.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Using college student volunteers as subjects may introduce a selection bias and limit the generalizability of the results to non-college populations. College students may not represent the wider population in terms of age, socio-economic status, and other demographic factors. Thus, findings based on college students may not be applicable to other groups of people. However, there is no ethical issue with using college student volunteers as subjects as long as their rights, safety, and well-being are protected. The age of the participants is also not a concern as long as they are adults and provide informed consent. Lastly, the broadness of the sample is not a problem as long as the study has a clear research question and uses an appropriate sampling method.

Many Research Studies Use College Student Volunteers as Subjects