Goodman and Greaves (2010) reported findings from the Millennium Cohort Study, a large research project in the United Kingdom. They stated that “while it is true that cohabiting parents are more likely to split up than married ones, there is very little evidence to suggest that this is due to a causal effect of marriage. Instead, it seems simply that different sorts of people choose to get married and have children, rather than to have children as a cohabiting couple, and that those relationships with the best prospects of lasting are the ones that are most likely to lead to marriage”. 

a. What is the sample in this study? 

b. What is the likely population? 

c. Is this a correlational study or an experiment? Explain. 

d. What is the independent variable? 

e. What is the dependent variable? 

f. What is one possible confounding variable? 

Suggest at least one way in which the confounding variable might be operationalized.