Reference no: EM132263695 , Length: word count:1000
Assignment - Research Critique
In this assignment you are presented with a made up experimental study (attached) for which you have to evaluate internal validity.
Experimental Study - A fictional study investigating the effectiveness of Exposure Therapy for the treatment of psychological trauma.
You will write a 1000 word document in which you should do each of the following:
1. Summarise the study's aims, findings and conclusions.
a. In a few sentences, in your own words, describe what the study is about.
b. Include a design statement (e.g. "2 by 4 mixed factorial design, where the repeated measures variable is the time of weighing -pre and post intervention- and the between subject variable is the intervention type")
2. Identify potential threats to internal validity that have been controlled in the current study, if any.
a. Name them
b. Explain how they have been controlled.
3. Identify threats to internal validity
a. Name each threat you identified
b. For each threat, it is important that you explain why this is a threat in this study: what is it about the research design or methodology that makes this a threat? In particular, it is important that you explain how this threat may be responsible for the results or may lead to an incorrect interpretation of the findings
4. Explain how the study design/methodology could be improved
a. Out of the threats you identified in point (3) above select a major threat, and explain how it could have been controlled through some modifications to the research design/methodology
- Outline the proposed changes and how these would address the concerns raised in 3.b.
5. Evaluate the overall quality of the study, and whether the conclusions drawn by Hughes and Hobbs (2015) are appropriate.
a. In your opinion, was the conclusion valid?
b. Discuss whether there are any alternative explanations for the findings of the study.
c. In your opinion, what, if anything, can be concluded?
Attachment:- Assignment File.rar