Answer

Shortcomings in a Study Design

The choice of study designs is usually the key to conducting a reliable and accurate research. The design encompasses the entire aspect of, participants’ selection, methodology, data analysis and presentation, and interpretation. In the hypothetical study presented, there are three significant shortcomings that are easily identifiable including the participants used, subjectivity, and ethical values.

From the short description of the study, the participants used do not give a reliable data and validity of response received. Arguably, there are several variables that were not considered while choosing on the participants; in fact, the study did not choose any participants at all. It is imperative that while designing a study, the participants used must meet certain criteria, since the reactions of the participants could be subject to various personal factors such as health (B.A. T.S.C., 1966; Wunderlich, & Kalsbeek, 1999). In order to solve this, it is important that participants are screened, and a defined method of selection be used, such as random procedure (YIN, 2003).

The study seems to have a confirmatory bias or some level of subjectivity, since the researcher arguably primarily wanted to confirm his/her hypothesis or belief that the time of day actually does affect people’s reaction to unexpected noise. In order to eliminate the effects of confirmatory bias in a study, one has to adopt an objective methodological approach, with proper controls and significantly defined variables (Stanovich, West, Toplak, & August 2013).

Lastly, there is an obvious ethical breach in the study, as the participants have been engaged without their consent. The researcher ought to have sought an official consent, signed by each participant, before engaging them, since such act can lead to legal tussle (Parsons et al, 2015).