Question

Dr. Kline, an environmental psychologist, conducts a study to examine whether visiting zoos causes people to have more positive attitudes toward environmental conservation. He asks a group of 45 people attending the zoo on a Saturday morning about their attitudes. He finds that 69% of the people report having a positive attitude after their visit. Which of the following is true? He can make a strong causal claim about the effect of zoo visits on environmental attitudes His study does not qualify as an experiment He does not have a dependent variable His control group is people who did not visit the zoo

Answer 1

The answer is: his study does not qualify as an experiment. For the study to be an experiment, Dr. Kline would have to manipulate the independent variable in a group (for example, apply a certain treatment) and also have a control group to which he doesn’t apply such treatment.

In this case, the study is an observational study because he only observed the subjects that were in the zoo that morning and measured the variable of his interest, that is the environmental attitude of the visitors, he did not apply a certain treatment to the group nor manipulate any variable.