Fix It Dr. Fallon Wants to Know Whether Pet Owners Are Happier

Essay

Fix It
Dr. Fallon wants to know whether pet owners are happier than people who do not own pets. She recruits volunteers by placing flyers around the university that indicate participants are needed for a study on happiness. A total of 150 individuals respond to the ad and participate in the study. After giving informed consent, participants completed a demographic questionnaire, as well as the Subjective Happiness Scale. On the demographic questionnaire the participants reported their sex, age, ethnicity, how many pets they owned, what kind of pets they owned, and for how many years they owned each pet. Dr. Fallon used the demographic questionnaire to divide participants into two groups: those who owned pets and those who did not own pets. He used a t-test to compare whether pet owners were happier than people who did not own pets. The results revealed a statistically significant difference in happiness between the two groups (t(149) = 5.83, p < .05), with pet owners reporting greater levels of happiness than people who do not own pets. Dr. Fallon concludes that owning a pet causes happiness.
Do you think Dr. Fallon disguised the purpose of the experiment appropriately? What do you think of Dr. Fallon's statement of causality? How would you fix these issues?