The captain of each precinct of a metropolitan police department selected two officers to participate in a program designed to reduce prejudice by increasing sensitivity to racial and ethnic group differences and community issues. The training program took place every Friday morning for 3 months.

At the first and last meetings, the officers completed a measure of prejudice.

To assess the effectiveness of the program, the average prejudice score at the first meeting was compared with the average score at the last meeting; it was found that the average score was in fact lower following the training program.

What type of design is this? What specific problems arise if you try to conclude that the training program was responsible for the reduction in prejudice?