Is it wrong to list alot of flaws in a psychological experiment report?
We just finished a psychology experiment, and now have to write up the report. (i was going to copy and paste the discussion but it would not fit).

I listed 3 confounding variables - the age of the participants, the socio-cultural background, and the smal sample size. (these were actual confounding variables that mattered in the experiment. However i also listed a two minor flaws such as language difficulties the participants may have had reading the survey due to language problems, and social desirability (where participants answer surveys to what they think looks most favourable)

In total, i listed 3 confounding variables, and 2 extraneous.

I personally feel that all these flaws are important, the experiment was, in my opinion invalid, and i want to provide reasons to support that.

THankyou for your opinion!

Expert Answers

| Certified Educator

It sounds like you have solid reasons to support your opinion that the psychology experiment is invalid.

Any research project is only as good as the data collected and analyzed or interpreted. If the sample group is not a valid representation of the total population that could be affected by the hypothesis situation, that is a real problem. You mention three variables - age, socio-cultural background, and small sample size - that definitely could compromise the results of the experiment. Your extraneous flaws are also real concerns when considering the accuracy and truthfulness of the responses gathered.

Because you perceive a number of flaws in the experiment's execution, you absolutely are justified in mentioning them all in your report.

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