Short Answer Assignment #1

Part 1

PURPOSE: The purpose of this activity is to help you better understand how scientific research and journal articles are presented in mainstream media outlets. To do this, you will find a news article that discusses a psychological research study, and you will find the original journal article the news report discusses. Then, answer a series of questions. These questions will help you evaluate how well the journalist or news anchor reported the results of the original research study.

TASK: Answer the questions below after finding the articles.

CRITERIA: You will be successful in this activity if you can: (a) Provide a correct answer to all of the questions with descriptions that are clear to another reader

ASSIGNMENT:

1. Pick a psychological concept that interests you and find a news article that discusses a scientific study about it. You can search websites like Today, Good Morning America, Psychology Today, or Science News Daily. Answer these questions:

A. What topic did you choose?

B. What news article did you read and where did you find it? Provide the title and website.

C. What did the author of the news article use to write the story (e.g., quotes from the original source, interview with the researcher, quotes from a press release or other media source?)

D. Did the author of the news article provide enough information to find the original research article?

E. Does the news article use the word prove anywhere?

2. Now, find the original research article (Hint: Does the news article provide a hyperlink to the original research article?). Answer these questions:

A. Provide the title, authors, date of publication, and the journal it was published in.

B. Compare and contrast the news article with the research article. In your opinion, how well did the news article report on the original research study?

C. Did the news article over-sell or exaggerate the results of the research study?

Part 2

PURPOSE: The purpose of this activity is to help you better understand the structure of an empirical research article in scholarly psychology journals

TASK: Find a journal article by following the instructions below. Then, answer the questions and discuss what you found and any insights you gained.

CRITERIA: You will be successful in this activity if you can: (a) Provide a correct answer to all of the questions with descriptions that are clear to another reader, and (b) discuss what you found with a group of classmates.

ASSIGNMENT:

Go to the homepage for the journal Psychological Science by Googling “Psychological Science.” Halfway down the page, click on either “Most Read” or “Most Cited.” Beneath these tabs, there are links to free articles. Choose a research article – not a review article – that seems interesting. Use the article you chose to answer the questions below.

1. Below the example of an APA formatted citation, cite the article you chose in APA format.

Author1, X., Author2, Y., & Author3, Z. (year). Article title: Capitalize the first word after the colon. Journal Name, volume#(issue#), xx-xx. ß xx-xx = page

2. What were the hypotheses or research questions in this article? Usually, they are provided near the end of the introduction section – is this where they were? (if not, where were they?)

3. What were the independent (predictor) and dependent (outcome) variables for this study? Note: The independent and dependent variables will not be explicitly labeled – i.e., it won’t say, “the dependent variable was _____.” Nevertheless, the main variables in the study are always listed in several places, and you can label them yourself as “IV” or “DV”.

4. Summarize the introduction section by answering the following question: How does prior research justify the importance of testing the current article’s hypotheses or answering its research questions? (Be concise; 2-4 sentences)

5. How many studies were reported? _______

For the first study (Study 1) answer the following:

A. How many participants were included? In what section and sub-section did you find this information?

B. In 1-4 sentences, what did participants do in this study? In what section and sub-section did you find this information?

C. In what section do the authors report what statistical analyses were used? What is the first analysis reported?

6. In what part of what section (not including the abstract) can you find the main findings and importance of the research presented in this article? Paraphrase/Summarize the overall findings and impact of the research presented in this article.

Part 3

PURPOSE: The purpose of this assignment is to help you evaluate a causal claim and assess the construct, external, internal, and statistical validity of the study. To do this, you will read a journal article and then, answer a set of questions testing your understanding.

TASK: Using the UTA library, find the journal article below. Once you have read the article and have a good understanding of the study, answer the following questions.

CRITERIA: You will be successful on this assignment if you can: (a) Provide a correct answer to all of the questions using course concepts and descriptions that are clear to another reader.

ASSIGNMENT:

Find and read the following article, then answer the questions below.

McCaffrey, R., Thomas, D. J., & Kinzelman, A. O. (2009). The effects of lavender and rosemary essential oils on test-taking anxiety among graduate nursing students.  Holistic nursing practice,  23(2), 88-93.

1. What are the main variables in this study?

2. What kind of study did the researchers do –correlation or experimental? Explain.

3. Sketch a well-labeled graph of the one the results described in the study.

4. Does this study support the causal claim that sniffing rosemary and lavender will cause a reduction in test-taking anxiety? Use the three criteria for establishing causation (covariance, temporal precedence, internal validity) to assess this claim.

5. How well did the researchers measure “test-taking anxiety”?

6. The sample came from Florida Atlantic University. Was it a random sample of students? Can the results of the study generalize to other groups of people?

7. Did the researchers control for third variables such as practice effects, age, etc.?

8. Was the sample large enough to test the researchers’ hypotheses?

Part 4

PURPOSE: The purpose of this activity is to help you learn more about ethical decision making and violations in research and discover previous research that violated the ethical principles and guidelines researchers are supposed to use.

TASK: Find and summarize the following research summaries listed below and describe potential ethical violations. Also, decide if an IRB would approve the study and why. Once you have evaluated the studies, discuss what you found and any insights.

CRITERIA: You will be successful on this assignment if you can: (a) Provide a correct answer to all of the questions using course concepts and descriptions that are clear to another reader.

ASSIGNMENT:

For each of the research summaries below, answer the following questions:

A. Using 2-3 sentences, what was the study about?

B. Should an IRB approve of the study? Explain why or why not?

1. Google “ narrative bioethics hepatitis” and click on the first result to learn about the Willowbrook Hepatitis studies.

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2. Go to Wikipedia and search for “ Monster Study” and click on the first results to learn about the “Monster Study” stuttering experiment.

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3. Google “ NPR Havasupai blood” and click on the first result to learn about the Havasupai diabetes study.

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4. Google “ Tuskegee.edu syphilis study” and click on the first result to learn about the Tuskegee Syphilis study.

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