College students: The undergraduate shares with the laboratory rat the
status of the most easily available and, therefore, most favored participant
in behavioral research. However, evidence is accumulating to
suggest that many of the characteristics of college students limit the
ability to generalize the results to other adults. For example, Sears
(1986) demonstrated that college students are likely to have a less
formulated sense of self, a stronger tendency to comply with authority,
less stable peer relationships, and higher intelligence than noncollege
adults. We need to be cautious about generalizing research results
obtained with this highly select group to adults in general.
3. Volunteer bias: In most cases, someone who participates in research has
volunteered for it. As noted in Chapter 4, the APA guidelines for human
research require (in most cases) that research participants be volunteers.
This creates a basic problem for researchers known as volunteer bias
because volunteers are not perfectly representative of the general population.
The question of external validity is, “To what extent can we
generalize results obtained with volunteers to individuals who may not
volunteer to participate in studies?”
In an extensive study of volunteer participants, Rosenthal and
Rosnow (1975) identified a number of characteristics that tend to differentiate
individuals who volunteer from those who do not. Table 6.4
presents a list of some of the characteristics they examined. Note that
none of the individual characteristics is a perfectly reliable predictor of
volunteerism, and some are better predictors than others. After an
extensive review of previous research, Rosenthal and Rosnow grouped
the items into categories based on the amount of evidence supporting the
notion that these characteristics are, in fact, associated with volunteering.
Copyright 2010
College students: The undergraduate shares with the laboratory rat thestatus of the most easily available and, therefore, most favored participantin behavioral research. However, evidence is accumulating tosuggest that many of the characteristics of college students limit theability to generalize the results to other adults. For example, Sears(1986) demonstrated that college students are likely to have a lessformulated sense of self, a stronger tendency to comply with authority,less stable peer relationships, and higher intelligence than noncollegeadults. We need to be cautious about generalizing research resultsobtained with this highly select group to adults in general.3. Volunteer bias: In most cases, someone who participates in research hasvolunteered for it. As noted in Chapter 4, the APA guidelines for humanresearch require (in most cases) that research participants be volunteers.This creates a basic problem for researchers known as volunteer biasbecause volunteers are not perfectly representative of the general population.The question of external validity is, “To what extent can wegeneralize results obtained with volunteers to individuals who may notvolunteer to participate in studies?”In an extensive study of volunteer participants, Rosenthal andRosnow (1975) identified a number of characteristics that tend to differentiateindividuals who volunteer from those who do not. Table 6.4presents a list of some of the characteristics they examined. Note thatnone of the individual characteristics is a perfectly reliable predictor ofvolunteerism, and some are better predictors than others. After anextensive review of previous research, Rosenthal and Rosnow groupedthe items into categories based on the amount of evidence supporting thenotion that these characteristics are, in fact, associated with volunteering.Copyright 2010
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