If a student struggles with a starting point we would prompt them to describe more generally the different kinds of interactions that hold molecules together and to comment on their relative strength. We would then encourage them to think about what interactions the specific compound might make first with octanol and then with water. A good approach to answering the question would be to first consider the individual functional groups separately and then to discuss the compound as a whole.
- Being early may not be a bad thing, but it’s more critical that you aren’t late.
- Ann Blandford offers practical tips on how to build rapport with interviewees through the structure of questions.
- Research interviews offer several advantages, making them a reliable tool for collecting information.
- Because of this, not every member of the population has an equal chance of being included in the sample, giving rise to sampling bias.
Using careful research design and sampling procedures can help you avoid sampling bias. To ensure the internal validity of your research, you must consider the impact of confounding variables. If you fail to account for them, you might over- or underestimate the causal relationship between your independent and dependent variables, or even find a causal relationship where none exists. A confounding variable is closely related to both the independent and dependent variables in a study. An independent variable represents the supposed cause, while the dependent variable is the supposed effect.