Milfont (2009) found that desirable responding did not impact the self-reporting of environmental attitudes and behavior. What methodological issues might decrease the credibility of this claim?
A. Ecological behavior was self-reported instead of measuring actual behavior.
B. The sample used was made up only self-reported environmentalists.
C. Environmental attitudes were not related to environmental behavior in this study.
D. None of the above was true of the study.
MY ANSWER IS C, BUT IM NOT SURE
I disagree.
CAN YOU HELP PLEASE?
I think A is the better answer. People tend to make themselves look better when they are self-reporting.
To assess the credibility of the claim made in Milfont's study, let's examine each option provided:
A. Ecological behavior was self-reported instead of measuring actual behavior.
This methodological issue might decrease the credibility of the claim because self-report measures are susceptible to social desirability bias, where participants may provide answers they believe align with societal norms rather than their actual behavior. This bias can distort the accuracy of the reported environmental attitudes and behavior.
B. The sample used was made up only self-reported environmentalists.
This methodological issue might decrease the credibility of the claim if the sample used was not representative of the general population. If the study only included self-reported environmentalists, it may introduce selection bias and limit the generalizability of the findings to the broader population.
C. Environmental attitudes were not related to environmental behavior in this study.
This option is unrelated to the methodological issues and does not address the credibility of the claim. Therefore, we can eliminate this option.
D. None of the above was true of the study.
Based on the above analysis, options A and B might decrease the credibility of the claim, suggesting that D is not the correct answer.
Considering the analysis above, option A is a valid methodological issue that could decrease the credibility of the claim. Therefore, option C is not the correct answer. The correct answer would be A.