Statistical+Arguments

Today in class, with a partner, you will be examining a controversial research question. The purpose of this activity is to look at one research question that has been tackled before and to use our new knowledge of statistical research to examine the process and ultimately decide if the research is valid. Some of you will have an article or blog posts that references several different pieces of research, you need to pick one study for the first four questions. You should feel free to find your own study as well (google scholar), I just wanted to start you out with something. Please be aware that some of these articles/blogs have VERY blatant biases (confirmation bias and false consensus alerts!). Always consider your source of data, you are looking at the real published peer reviewed research. Sometimes finding the actual study is hard since we don't have subscriptions to PubMed. This assignment is due emailed to me by the end of class on Wednesday (or W night if you need). I suggest sharing a google doc with me.

This is worth 30 pts. Please make it clear what study you were examining and if you change studies, please provide a link to either an article about it or the study itself. It is totally fine for you to change studies or topics, just provide the link to your source(s). The objective of this activity is for you to see what actual studies look like, how google scholar works, and to review vocabulary in an applied setting. It is fine if you do the same study as another group in the class.

Title of Article: Researchers, title of study if that differs 1. What type of research was used: correlational study, survey research, naturalistic observations, case study, or experiment? Sometimes multiple methods are employed, that is called mixed methods, if that was chosen explain which methods were mixed. Explain why you think that this methodology was employed and either explain why another method would have been more useful or why another method would have been useless.

2. Identify all of the terms that had to be operationally defined. You might find that some are inadequately defined, hypothesize how this could impact the results' efficacy. If all are clearly defined, then say so.

3. How was the population in your study selected? Was it randomly selected? Explain how this was done if you can find that information. If you can't, don't freak, sometimes that is buried deeply in a study.

4. Outline/bullet the steps done in the research, identifying (underline or bold please) any/all of the relevant terms: controls, independent variable(s), dependent variable(s), confounding variable(s), control variable(s), replication, mean, median, mode, range. If you can't find all of these terms, that is fine, note the "any/all" and the word "relevant" above. If the term is irrelevant to your study, then ignore it. But if the term does relate explain the relationship.

5. Using google's google scholar's search feature, determine if the study has been replicated and what, if any findings were there? Pro tip: google scholar search for your own study to see who cited it. Then do a search with key terms. If the study was never replicated, discuss. If the results were never the same, discuss. Note that there will always be some variations between studies, (they will not be totally identical because humans are...human). NOTE: if you can't find the study for free, please feel free to just plain old google around and see if it is findable that way. DO NOT PAY TO READ A STUDY!!!! But do be persistent! I usually go to google scholar, find that the actual link to the study is a paid thing, but then by clicking around on other links, that I end up finding a free version or at least a nice summary elsewhere. If you find nothing and are freaking. (stop freaking it isn't helping) then find a new study that is similar to the original one posted. When I posted the link it was free, but things change quickly and I get that. Or spend a lot of time whining about the assignment and messaging people about it...oh wait, no. Be persistent! You can do it! People used to write these things on typewriters, with ribbons! (not me, old people.) You have nothing to complain about.

6. Were the researchers seeking correlation or causality? Which did they find, (or was it null hypothesis)? Explain.

7. Who did the research, who funded it (if you can find that), is there any bias there, identify what kind and explain why you come to this conclusion.

8. Summary with conclusions: What was the original question, what is the answer to the original research question (what were the findings), and why do you think it is valid or invalid?


 * Each of the above questions is worth 5pts. Please thoroughly answer all that are possible and relevant. If for example #7 can not be found or is not applicable to your researchers, please just state that and put more effort into a question that required more effort for your particular topic.**

Here are some suggested topics: 1. Does a person's college major influence their earnings right after college? link 2. Does a person's college influence their long term earning potential? link 3. Do athletes in high school live longer? link 4. Is spanking effective for getting children to behave? link 5. Does the MMR vaccine cause autism? link 6. Does "sex ed" prevent teen pregnancy? link 7. Is DARE effective at getting teens to "just say no?" link 8. Do SAT result predict success in college? link 9. Do kids who exercise report greater happiness? link 10. Are people who get married young more likely to get divorced than older couples? link 11. Is there a causal link between violent video game usage and real violence? link 12. Does texting far more than typical amounts correlate with deviant behavior? link 13. Do students who play a musical instrument earn higher grades than those who do not? link 14. Do lenient gun control laws in certain U.S. states lead to an increase in firearm related crimes (in those areas)? 15. Do soft drinks make kids more aggressive and distracted? link 16. Does health class keep you from smoking? link 17. Does using drugs in high school or earlier correlate with acquiring less education? link 18. Is TV bad for small children? link 19. Does teen sex lead to divorce for girls? link 20. Do states with higher gun ownership rates have higher rates of suicide by gun? link 21. Preacher's daughter syndrome 22. Is students failing out of school the teacher's or students' fault? link 23. Does listening to music improve grades?