CHAPTER 8: INTERNAL and EXTERNAL VALIDITY INTERNAL VALIDITY An experiment is internally valid if there are no confounds
that is, the only reason why the groups are different (with respect to the DV) is “actually and only” because of differences in the IV EIGHT THREATS TO INTERNAL VALIDITY all of the following are a potential source of confounds: 1
History Can be a problem in a repeated measures (within subjects) design where each participant is tested in each group
A history effect is present when an event (external to participants) occurs: a) Between presentations of the levels of the IV e
IV = day of the week: between taking a quiz on Tuesday and a quiz on Thursday, the campus “shuts down” on Wed when a student goes on the rampage (must of gotten his stats test back) or b) From