Threats to Validity in Research: Internal Validity Explained

Table of Links Abstract and 1. Introduction Abstract and 1. Introduction 2. Experiment Definition 2. Experiment Definition 3. Experiment Design and Conduct 3. Experiment Design and Conduct 3.1 Latin Square Designs 3.1 Latin Square Designs 3.2 Subjects, Tasks and Objects 3.2 Subjects, Tasks and Objects 3.3 Conduct 3.3 Conduct 3.4 Measures 3.4 Measures 4. Data Analysis 4. Data Analysis 4.1 Model Assumptions 4.1 Model Assumptions 4.2 Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) 4.2 Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) 4.3 Treatment Comparisons 4.3 Treatment Comparisons 4.4 Effect Size and Power Analysis 4.4 Effect Size and Power Analysis 5. Experiment Limitations and 5.1 Threats to the Conclusion Validity 5. Experiment Limitations and 5.1 Threats to the Conclusion Validity 5.2 Threats to Internal Validity 5.2 Threats to Internal Validity 5.3 Threats to Construct Validity 5.3 Threats to Construct Validity 5.4 Threats to External Validity 5.4 Threats to External Validity 6. Discussion and 6.1 Duration 6. Discussion and 6.1 Duration 6.2 Effort 6.2 Effort 7. Conclusions and Further Work, and References 7. Conclusions and Further Work, and References 5.2 Threats to Internal Validity These threats concern whether the observed outcomes were due to other factors and not due to the treatment. To avoid these threats, subjects were randomly assigned to the treatments. Latin square design eliminated possible problems with learning effects, boredom or fatigue as the subjects tried different program and tool support. Subjects (pairs and solos) were in the same classroom with equal working conditions, and sitting apart with no interaction. A possible threat that might have exposed this validity is that subjects knew the experiment, so a competition between pairs and solos could have happened. Authors: (1) Omar S. Gómez, full time professor of Software Engineering at Mathematics Faculty of the Autonomous University of Yucatan (UADY); (2) José L. Batún, full time professor of Statistics at Mathematics Faculty of the Autonomous University of Yucatan (UADY); (3) Raúl A. Aguilar, Faculty of Mathematics, Autonomous University of Yucatan Merida, Yucatan 97119, Mexico. Authors: Authors: (1) Omar S. Gómez, full time professor of Software Engineering at Mathematics Faculty of the Autonomous University of Yucatan (UADY); (2) José L. Batún, full time professor of Statistics at Mathematics Faculty of the Autonomous University of Yucatan (UADY); (3) Raúl A. Aguilar, Faculty of Mathematics, Autonomous University of Yucatan Merida, Yucatan 97119, Mexico. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv available on arxiv