Ecological and external validity

Question 1

What is ecological validity?

Answer 1

• How realistic the experiment is
• when experiments closely mimic real environments, results are more externally valid
• quasi, natural, field experiments tend to be more ecologically valid than others

Question 2

What is ecological validity in lab experiments?

Answer 2

• lab experiments try to strike balance btw realism and control
• efforts at external validity differ among fields

Question 3

What is external validity?

Answer 3

ability to study to generalise beyond subjects, settings and treatments in that particular study

Question 4

What is random sampling?

Answer 4

selection of subjects to represent larger population

Question 5

What is random assignment?

Answer 5

• process of deciding which subjects are placed in treatment groups
• makes samples in diff treatment conditions similar to each other
• typically used with convenience samples

Question 6

What is 2-step randomisation?

Answer 6

• subjects are randomly sampled from pop and then randomly assigned to treatment groups
• often impossible/difficult