Quiz/Project 3

Observational Study or Experiment?

Your project is to read each of the articles that the links below take you to. You must also pick one research article that you are interested in and read that. Once you read the articles, explain your answers to the question below for each article.

(2 points) State if the study is observational or experimental. Explain your reasoning.

(1 points) List the intended population and the sample (known as subjects or experimental units in experiments) used for the study.

If you decide the study is observational:

(2 point) Describe the type of observational study you have and what question they are trying to answer. Is this study a sample survey, is it a case-control study, is it a cohort study? Explain the reasoning for your answer.

(6 points) Describe the sampling design using the appropriate vocabulary from the book to do so. Is this sampling design a good one (relatively) or poor? Explain why you chose the design you chose and why you believe it is poor/good.

(5 points) Is there bias in the observational study? Are there variables that could be confounding? Explain your reasoning, be sure to use appropriate vocabulary from the book to do so. Remember there are many ways to be bias, some could include sampling choice, others could include questions asked or wording used in surveying.

If you decide the study is experimental:

(2 point) Describe the treatment the researchers gave and what they were trying to find out about this treatment.

(4 point) What is the experimental group of this treatment and what is the control group? Were placebos given to either group? If so, why do you think this placebo was given?

(6 points) What type of design does the experiment have? Explain why you think the experiment has the design you suggested.

(3 point) Were there any weaknesses in this experiments scientifically speaking? Use the appropriate vocabulary from the book to answer this question. Explain your reasoning.

(1 point) From what you read, did it seem as if good ethics were being followed when the experiment was implemented? Explain your reasoning.

Keep in mind that as always, your responses should be well-written and easy follow. Meaning they contain few grammatical errors and can be read fluently. Points will be deducted if the message you are trying to convey is hard to understand due to poor writing.

The three articles that you will answer these questions will be:

Article 1 (2 points): The article you choose yourself. Please give the title of your article and paste a link to your article to the project.Two of your project points will be earned by having an article from a credible source. No points will be received in this section if this article is not a research article.

Article 2: History of Alcohol Use Disorders and Risk of Severe Cognitive Impairment: A 19-Year Prospective Cohort Study

http://www.ajgponline.org/article/S1064-7481(14)00167-5/pdf

If this link does not work for you, I have posted the articles in the quizzes section of Canvas.

Article 3: Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips

http://science.sciencemag.org.ezproxy.bellevuecollege.edu/content/sci/333/6043/776.full.pdf

If the link does not work for you, I have posted the article in the quizzes section of Canvas.