Which statement about Dr. K's recruitment outside the career center would indicate poor population validity?

• A. It would yield a random sample of the entire university.
• B. It would not generalize to the target population.
• C. It would overrepresent alumni.
• D. It would assure population validity.

Answer: (B)

Population validity is about whether the study’s results can be extended to the group you truly want to learn about (the target population). If the recruitment method produces a sample that isn’t representative of that group, the findings won’t generalize well, signaling poor population validity.

Hiring participants outside the career center would likely bias the sample toward students who are actively seeking internships or have specific career interests, so the sample wouldn’t reflect all students. That lack of generalizability to the target population is exactly what indicates poor population validity.

Putting it another way, a method that would yield a random sample of the entire university would strengthen generalizability, and the idea of overrepresenting alumni or assuring validity would not describe a scenario of poor population validity in this context.