Sampling variance in the correlation coefficient under indirect range restriction: Implications for validity generalization.

Abstract

The authors conducted Monte Carlo simulations to investigate whether indirect range restriction (IRR) on 2 variables X and Y increases the sampling error variability in the correlation coefficient between them. The manipulated parameters were (a) IRR on X and Y (i.e., direct restriction on a third variable Z), (b) population correlations p xy , ρ xz , and ρ yz , and (c) sample size. IRR increased the sampling error variance in r xy to values as high as 8.50% larger than the analytically derived expected values. Thus, in the presence of IRR, validity generalization users need to make theory-based decisions to ascertain whether the effects of IRR are artifactual or caused by situational-specific moderating effects.