Hoshi is a therapist at an inner-city hospital. She has developed a new therapeutic technique for individuals suffering from depression based upon her personal experiences. She believes this new therapy will be more effective at treating the disorder than the cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) she currently uses. To start she takes a list of all the patients with depression from her hospital. Then she divides up these patients by their race ethnicity. From the following list of ethnic backgrounds, Hoshi samples 10 participants each: Native American, Asian American, African American, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, and White). Then she provides cognitive behavioral therapy to these participants for 3 weeks and measures their level of depression with the Beck depression inventory. Afterwards she begins to implement her new therapy for another 3 weeks. At the end of this second three-week period, she measures their levels of depression again with the Beck depression inventory. To determine if her new therapy is an improvement, she compares their scores on the Beck depression inventory after CBT and after her new therapy.

1. Critically evaluate the researcher's hypothesis based upon the properties of a good, scientific hypothesis.
2. What are the two variables the researcher is looking at? Identify both of their constructs and operational definitions.
3. Describe the design and methodology of the research as thoroughly as possible on a conceptual level. Be sure to identify any key elements of the design as applicable (independent variable, sampling technique, counterbalancing, measurement modality, etc.)
4. Evaluate the internal validity of this study. What threats to internal validity are present? What steps, if any, could be taken to improve the internal validity of this study?
5. Evaluate the external validity of this study. What aspects may be decreasing the external validity of the study? What steps, if any, could be taken to improve the external validity of this study?
6. What inferential statistical tests should be used to evaluate the results and why? If the results end up being statistically significant, how would you interpret them?
7. What are the basic ethical concerns this researcher should be aware of, and what should the researcher do to ensure this research is conducted ethically and legally?