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Using your understanding of samples and populations, explain why the critic's concern is valid. What must be true about the university students (the sample) in relation to men and women in general (the population) for the researcher's conclusions to be generalizable?
Case context: A researcher measures the talkativeness of a few hundred university students to draw conclusions about the talkativeness of men and women in general. A critic reviews this study design and argues that the researcher's final conclusions about the population may not be justified because of the specific group of participants chosen.
Question: Using your understanding of samples and populations, explain why the critic's concern is valid. What must be true about the university students (the sample) in relation to men and women in general (the population) for the researcher's conclusions to be generalizable?
Sample answer: The critic's concern is valid because university students represent a specific subset of people and may behave differently or have different talkativeness levels compared to the general population of all men and women. For the researcher's conclusions to be generalizable, the university students (the sample) must be representative of the larger population of men and women in general.
Key points:
- Explain that university students are a specific subset and may not represent the general population.
- Identify that conclusions are only valid if the sample is representative of the population.
- Describe how an unrepresentative sample limits generalizability to the broader population.
Rubric: The answer should explain that a sample of university students may not accurately reflect the characteristics of the general population of men and women, and it must specify that representativeness is required to generalize conclusions.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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