Pretend that you are a peer reviewer for a study on exposure therapy and arachnophobia (fear of spiders).The researcher chooses a group of patients who he thinks can handle the treatment (administered by a colleague)and has another group of patients as a control that he talks to about their fears weekly.He reports that,following exposure therapy,those in the experimental group showed less fear of spiders than those in the control group.As a reviewer,what is the hidden flaw with this study that limits its claims?
A)The researcher has not controlled for the placebo effect.
B)There is no random assignment so it is not an experiment.
C)The study has no dependent variable.
D)The researcher has not controlled for the experimenter expectancy effect.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The study does not have random assignment, meaning that the participants were not randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. This limits the study's ability to make causal claims and makes it weaker as an experiment.

Pretend That You Are a Peer Reviewer for a Study