Question

Chris has been hired to assess a new version of a college entrance exam. He randomly assigns 100 high school juniors to take the new exam and 100 high school juniors to take the old exam. So that the participants were unaware of the two versions, the new exam was administered in the school gym while the old exam was administered in the school auditorium. The students taking the exam in the gym complained about the smell, the temperature and the uncomfortable seats. The students taking the exam in the auditorium made no complaints. Chris calculated a statistically significant difference between the two versions of the exam (t(198)= 3.1, p< 0.005) and concluded that the new exam was not a valid substitute for the old exam. There is a problem with validity. Which validity is weak in this example?

a. external validity
b. construct validity
c. statistical validity
d. internal validity

Answer 1

Internal validity

Explanation:

The internal validity here is weak

Internal validity describes the extent to which an evidence weighs the cause and effect claim. In this study, the internal validity that brought about failure in the new exam is mainly due to the environment where the exam was written and not the new exam itself.

So this validity is weak in claiming that the new exam is not a good substitute for the old exam.

Putting them in the same good environment might help the researchers to draw a better conclusion.