Question

Nurse researchers randomly assigned 50 participants to be in a 3-month smoking cessation intervention and 50 to be in the control group. At the end of the study, there were 40 in the intervention group and 32 in the control group. Which threat to internal validity would be especially salient in this study?

A. Temporal ambiguity

B. Selection

C. Mortality

D. Maturation

Answer 1

Mortality, or attrition, is the threat to internal validity in the given nurse researchers' study due to the loss of participants. It may cause bias as remaining participants might not represent the original group. The correct answer is option c.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the context of the nurse researchers' study involving a smoking cessation intervention, the threat to internal validity that would be especially salient is mortality. Mortality, also known as attrition, refers to the loss of participants over the course of a study. In this scenario, the intervention group decreased from 50 to 40 participants, and the control group from 50 to 32 participants.

This reduction in numbers could potentially affect the study's outcomes since the participants who dropped out may have had different characteristics compared to those who remained. This may lead to a biased sample that no longer accurately represents the original population of the study.