Quiz Question: Willer - Overdoing Gender

Study 3 (results of a national survey) was able to address which issue of studies 1 and 2 (both laboratory experiments)?

A. Response rate
B. Overcompensation
C. Causality
D. Generalizability
E. Spuriousness














Answer: D. Generalizability
"The greatest weakness of laboratory experiments lies in their artificiality." -Babbie Ch. 8
Because lab settings are so controlled and unlike the real world, it is cautionary to use its findings to make generalizations about the entire population. Furthermore, Studies 1 and 2's participants were all undergraduate students of a large, Eastern private university. Study 3, on the other hand, surveyed people of differing age, gender, race, educational attainment, region, as well as whether they were California residents. This gave the study much more external validity because the research subjects were much more representative of the population.

The answer is not "response rate" because, if anything, national surveys would have greater issues of response rate than lab experiments. Those who participate in lab experiments are often individuals who choose to participate for one reason or another (e.g. money or extra credit) so therefore would respond during experimentation. Those who receive surveys, however, do not provide consent before receiving surveys so would be less likely to respond.

The answer is not "overcompensation" because that is made up and makes no sense.

The answer is not "causality" nor "spuriousness." These are strengths of lab experiments. By controlling for possible confounding variables, lab experiments are able to better establish causality.