Addie is wondering whether the memory scores of her participants may have reflected not the difference in retention interval between the experimental and control conditions in her experiment but rather a difference in participants' ages between the two conditions. Addie's question concerns the ______ hypothesis.
A) confound
B) research
C) null
D) inferential

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Addie's question is related to the possibility of a confounding variable, which is a variable that is not controlled for in the experiment and could potentially explain the results. In this case, age could be a confounding variable if it is related to both the retention interval and the memory scores. Therefore, the best choice is A, confound. The other options (B, research; C, null; D, inferential) do not directly relate to the issue at hand.

Addie Is Wondering Whether the Memory Scores of Her Participants