Dr.McBride wants to know if the teacher's use of encouragement in the classroom affects the children's self-esteem.To assign children to treatment conditions,Dr.McBride should __________.
A) carefully distribute the children according to their test scores
B) divide the children so each group has an equal number of boys and girls
C) draw the children's names out of a hat
D) assign the quieter children to the same treatment condition

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The best option is to randomly assign the children to treatment conditions, which can be achieved by drawing their names out of a hat. This ensures that each child has an equal chance of being assigned to any condition and helps to control for extraneous variables that may affect the results. It also avoids any bias that could result from carefully distributing the children according to their test scores or assigning quieter children to the same treatment condition. Similarly, dividing the children so each group has an equal number of boys and girls is not relevant to the research question and may not be feasible if the class has an uneven gender distribution.

DrMcBride Wants to Know If the Teacher's Use of Encouragement