Informed consent means clearly explaining all of the following EXCEPT Group of answer choices explaining the hypothesis to the participants. ensuring that data is confidential. letting participants know that participation is voluntary. what compensation the participant will receive and what tasks they will perform. 2. Random assignment is important in grouping participants in a research study because __. Group of answer choices it enables the data to be collected for analysis it eliminates variability in the research design It is the only way to group participants it balances out the differences that might naturally exist between participants
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
Correct Answers:
- Informed consent means clearly explaining all of the following EXCEPT
✅ explaining the hypothesis to the participants. - Random assignment is important in grouping participants in a research study because
✅ it balances out the differences that might naturally exist between participants.
Explanation
1. Informed Consent:
Informed consent is a foundational ethical principle in research involving human participants. It ensures that individuals are fully aware of what participation entails before agreeing to take part. Key elements include describing the nature of the study, the procedures involved, any potential risks or benefits, the voluntary nature of participation, and confidentiality measures. Additionally, participants should be informed about what compensation, if any, they will receive and what tasks they will be expected to perform.
However, explaining the hypothesis is not a required part of informed consent. This is because revealing the hypothesis can lead to participant bias or influence how they behave, which may compromise the validity of the results. Researchers may instead provide a general description of the study’s purpose without disclosing specific hypotheses.
2. Random Assignment:
Random assignment is a process used in experimental research to allocate participants to different groups (e.g., control or experimental) purely by chance. This method is essential for ensuring the internal validity of a study. By randomly assigning participants, researchers control for individual differences, such as age, gender, personality traits, or prior experiences, that might otherwise skew the results.
This balancing of participant characteristics between groups reduces the risk of confounding variables, which are factors other than the independent variable that might affect the dependent variable. As a result, researchers can be more confident that any differences observed between groups are due to the experimental manipulation and not pre-existing differences. This strengthens the causal conclusions drawn from the research.
In contrast, non-random assignment can introduce selection bias and threaten the study’s reliability and generalizability. Thus, random assignment is a critical step in designing rigorous, ethical, and scientifically valid experiments.
