What term describes the loss of subjects from a study due to various factors, potentially biasing results?

What term describes the loss of subjects from a study due to various factors, potentially biasing results?

• A. Maturation
• B. Measurement Decay
• C. Morality
• D. Placebo

Answer: (C)

The concept here is attrition, often described in terms of mortality within research reports. When participants drop out or are lost to follow-up for various reasons, the remaining sample may no longer represent the original group, which can bias the study’s results if those who leave differ in important ways from those who stay. This loss reduces statistical power and threatens internal validity because the observed effects might reflect who stayed rather than the intervention itself. The other terms aren’t about losing participants: maturation refers to natural developmental changes over time, measurement decay to instruments becoming less reliable, and placebo to a control condition. Morality is not a technical term in research and would be confusing here.

The concept here is attrition, often described in terms of mortality within research reports. When participants drop out or are lost to follow-up for various reasons, the remaining sample may no longer represent the original group, which can bias the study’s results if those who leave differ in important ways from those who stay. This loss reduces statistical power and threatens internal validity because the observed effects might reflect who stayed rather than the intervention itself. The other terms aren’t about losing participants: maturation refers to natural developmental changes over time, measurement decay to instruments becoming less reliable, and placebo to a control condition. Morality is not a technical term in research and would be confusing here.