Which of the following is a reason why a researcher interested in making a causal claim might choose not to conduct an experiment in psychology?

• A. Experiments do not require any control over confounding variables.
• B. Ethical concerns may prevent manipulation of variables that could harm participants.
• C. Observational studies are always more accurate than experiments for determining causality.
• D. Experiments always guarantee perfect generalizability to all populations.

Answer: (B)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Step 1: Understand the goal of making a causal claim, which requires establishing that one variable directly influences another, typically through manipulation and control in an experiment.
2. Step 2: Recognize that experiments involve manipulating an independent variable and controlling confounding variables to observe effects on a dependent variable, which helps establish causality.
3. Step 3: Identify that ethical concerns can limit the ability to manipulate certain variables, especially if such manipulation could cause harm or distress to participants, making some experiments impossible or unethical to conduct.
4. Step 4: Consider that when ethical constraints prevent manipulation, researchers might choose alternative methods like observational studies, even though these methods have limitations in establishing causality.
5. Step 5: Conclude that the reason a researcher might avoid experiments despite their strength in causal inference is primarily due to ethical concerns about manipulating harmful variables, rather than issues like control over confounds or generalizability.