History

Events that occur during a research endeavor but are unrelated to it occasionally have an
impact on the outcomes of the study by changing them in ways that were not anticipated.
For example, in a study of the "Effect of Anti-Smoking Campaign on Cigarette
Consumption Among Young Adults in City A," an intensive information campaign against
smoking was launched to discourage smoking among young adults. Anti-smoking messages
were disseminated on radio, television, and newspaper daily for one month.
During the campaign, a cigarette company also launched a product promotion, offering a
free trip to Europe for the costumer and dealer who could collect and submit the greatest number
of empty packs of the cigarettes brand being promoted. A month after launching of the anti-
smoking Campaign consumption in the study area. The researcher might conclude that the
campaign was a failure. The conclusion here would be invalid because of the Hugh possibility
that the cigarette promotion (the historical event) may have contributed to the increase in
cigarette consumption.

Selection
In an experimental study, a threat to validity occurs when the elements or subjects for the
experimental group is very difficult from those selected for the control group. For instance, if at
the beginning the experiment over the control group in terms of the focus of the study, the
difference will affect the result of the study.
For example, in an experiment conducted to determine if using games and puzzles as
instructional aids can improve performances of college freshmen in Basic Math, the teacher used
games and puzzles in the experimental group but did not use them in the control group. After the
experiment, it was found that the experimental group got significantly better grades in the subject
than the control group.
It was discovered, however, that most of the students in the experimental group had very
good grades in high school math, while most of those in the control group had average grades
only. Attributing the better performance of the experimental group to use the games and puzzles
can be questioned. To avoid this validity threat, the experimental and the control group should
have similar characteristics at the beginning.

Testing
Any factor other than the program that results in posttest differences between groups is a
selection threat. We suspect a selection bias whenever we believe that results between groups
differ due to preexisting group differences rather than our program
Internal validity is at risk if an unequal proportion of test subjects have subject-related
variables in common throughout the research study's selection phase. For instance, a researcher
set up the experimental and control groups as two test groups.
 For example, whenever a pretest is given, it may take the examinees " test wise," and this
can therefore affect the post test results. Research subjects who have been given a pre-test may
remember some of the test items/ questions for which they may search answers and get these
correct when they take the post test. Better performance in the post- test might be because of the
pre-test and not necessarily to the intervention or treatment.
Instrumentation
When a research interment, such as questionnaire or a measuring device, like weighing
scale or a thermometer is changes during the study period or between the pre-test and the post
test, the change could result in an effect that is independent of the intervention and yet, mag be
attributed to it
For example, in a survey, an instrumentation effect may be caused by an interviewer who
after conducting the pre-test interview becomes more experienced in interviewing. The
interviewer/s experience will enable him/her to generate better and/or more complete
information during the post-test than what was collected during pre-test.

Maturation
People and things change over time. In other words, they become more mature, and this
change can threaten the validity of conclusions.
For example, Research subjects can get tired, hungry, or bored during the duration of the
project. If the effect of a project is measured with a test, their tiredness or boredom can result in
scores lower than their "true" scores. On the other hand, the subjects may become more
experienced, more become more experienced, more knowledgeable as they grow older and as a
result, they may get higher scores than they did in the pre-test. In this regard the changes can cot
be attributed to the intervention.

Mortality
In studies that take a long time to finish, say, one year or more, like cohort studies, where
the subjects (the same people) are followed up over time, some cases may drop out, thus
resulting in loss of cases.
For example, some cases may have transferred residence and are difficult to locate during
the follow up interview. Cases which cannot be contacted cannot be followed-up. This loss
called mortality, may distort findings and conclusion, if substantial and is it has introduced a bias
to the sample.