Question

Read the following description of a (fake) study, and answer a few questions below about its validity.

Researchers wanted to study whether owning a larger refrigerator caused people to eat more calories. They visited college students' dorm rooms and measured the size of their refrigerators, and asked students to list all of the foods they had eaten that day. The researchers then calculated the number of calories consumed. They found that students with larger refrigerators ate more calories and concluded that a tax on refrigerator size would decrease calorie consumption and reduce rates of obesity in America.
(a) In 1-2 sentences, describe one threat to the internal validity of this study.
(b) In 1-2 sentences, describe one threat to the external validity of this study.

Answer 1

The internal validity of the study is threatened by confounding variables, while the external validity is limited to college students living in dorms.

Step-by-step explanation:

The threat to the internal validity of this study is the lack of control for other factors that could affect calorie consumption. There may be confounding variables such as the students' individual eating habits or activity levels that also contribute to the differences in calorie consumption.

The threat to the external validity of this study is the limited generalizability of the findings to the broader population. The study only focused on college students living in dorms, so the findings may not be applicable to other age groups or living situations.