Exam 3: Three Claims, Four Validities: Interrogation Tools for Consumers of Research

RESEARCH STUDY 3.7: You read an article stating that Facebook is related to unhappiness.In the study, a group of high school students were asked how many times a day they checked their Facebook pages and how happy they were.In discussing this article with your friend Matt, he exclaims, "I knew it! I have always said that being on Facebook is the cause of all my unhappiness!" Explain why converting this study to an experiment changes the type of claim the researcher can make.

RESEARCH STUDY 3.6: From a Time.com article entitled "Why Men Shouldn't Listen to Rock Music While Playing Board Games," published on December 13, 2016. Researchers Fancourt, Burton, and Williamon wanted to find out whether different types of music would impact participants' performance on a mock-surgery game, "Operation." Many real-life surgeons listen to music while operating, so the authors were interested in whether this may actually help performance, and whether that differed by sex of the participant. The psychologists asked male and female participants to play the mock-surgery game, "Operation," in which they needed to remove three different organs from a "patient" using tweezers.The experimenters played either rock music, classical music, or operating-room sounds.They found that the type of music made a difference on the performance of male participants, who were slower to complete the task (in seconds) while listening to rock music compared with classical music.The performance of female participants did not differ based on the type of music they listened to. Consider the measured outcome variable in this study.Provide both a conceptual definition and an operational definition for it.

RESEARCH STUDY 3.3: Anton and his friends are discussing a study he read about in his developmental psychology class.In the study, the researcher made the claim that most middle school students who are bullied have low self-esteem.Clarissa questions the study, saying, "I am not sure that I am convinced.I am not sure you can really measure being bullied." Quinn also questions the study, saying, "Which middle school students did they study? I am curious if they included both private and public school students." Manish also is curious about the study, asking, "I wonder how strong the relationship is between bullying and self-esteem.Could you predict one from the other?" Why should Anton NOT interrogate the internal validity of the study?

A common finding in the study of aggression is that exposure to television is associated with increased aggressive behavior in children.You are curious as to whether peer pressure is really to blame (peer pressure encourages you to watch television and peer pressure encourages you to be aggressive).You are questioning which of the following criteria of causation?

Which of the following is an association claim?

Which of the following is true of variables?