Directions For The Media Projects

Goal: To help you learn more about topics in the class, see how psychology research is covered in the media, and to become more
critical consumers of information.

Info: For this assignment, you will need to select one article based on the chapters covered this week. Please see the document titled
"Articles for Media Project" found in Canvas to select your article. You only need to select one news article corresponding to chapters
we covered this week, but I encourage you to read as many as you would like. After reading the article, you will need to fully answer
the questions below.

Grading: You may NOT plagiarize from the article or any other source; you may use your book or any other source to help you
complete this project. Only outstanding answers to each question will receive the full points; this assignment is worth 20 points. Each
answer requires multiple, grammatically correct sentences that should be proofread for clarity and spelling. You are welcome to use
numbered or bullet point lists to help organize your thoughts. You need full sentences, but you don't have to put your answers in the
form of a paragraph. To prevent Canvas from accidentally losing your hard work, I would suggest typing your answers into a Word
document, then copying/pasting your answers into Canvas when you are done answering all the questions. 

Questions You Will Answer In The Media Project

Question 1 (1 point): List the title of the news article you selected and what chapter it corresponds to in your book. Why did you pick
this article to review for this assignment?

Question 2 (3 points): What did you learn from the article? Clearly explain the main issue(s) covered in the news article and what
you specifically learned from the news article. You need to fully explain both the scientific findings covered in the article and what new
information you learned from the article.

You will need multiple, detailed sentences to earn full credit. 

Question 3 (3 points): How does the news article apply to information from class? Bold the specific terms you found to be
applicable; you should either fully explain one concept in depth or provide multiple terms with briefer explanations. Do not plagiarize
any information from the book or article.

You will need multiple, detailed sentences to earn full credit. 

Question 4 (5 points): When examining the news article, which type of research design was used to collect the data? If there are
multiple methods, pick the most relevant and interesting method to analyze. You need to clearly explain why you selected the specific
type of method. You don't have to find the primary source (i.e., the original journal article), but you are welcome to do some additional
research about the actual study covered in the news article to enhance your learning. 

Your response must include details that indicate you understand why this method is the correct answer; be sure to review information
in Ch. 2 when answering this question. You will need multiple, detailed sentences to earn full credit. 

If the claim is frequency, were the rates increasing or decreasing? How do you know it's a frequency claim? How much do
you trust the construct validity? Do you think the survey has good external validity? Why or why not?

 Frequency methods simply assess the frequency of one or more variables. This method is used to understand the rate of a
behavior or how often a phenomenon occurs. 
o Example: A recent survey published by the Anxiety and Depression Association of American reported that 85% of
college students said they had felt overwhelmed by everything they had to accomplish at some point in the last year. See
how it only discusses the rate of one variable?

If the study was correlational, did it show a positive or negative correlation? Why? How do you know it's correlational and
not experimental? Discuss at least one issue related to construct, internal, or external validity that should be considered. 

 Correlational methods examine associations between at least two variables, but the variables are not experimentally
manipulated. Correlations can be positive or negative in direction; correlations can't determine causation.
o Example: Gregory et al. (2011) found that young adults who reported more sleep disturbances also reported higher
anxiety and depression scores. In this study they found a positive correlation between sleep disturbances and
anxiety/depression scores. The researchers didn’t cause or manipulate the sleep disturbances to see how it impacted
anxiety and depression, they just measured the amount of sleep disturbances to see if sleep disturbances related to the
participants’ anxiety and depression scores. An issue that could have impacted these results is whether the participant took
anxiety or depression medications - do we know if the medications could possibly affect their sleep (internal validity)? Would
these findings generalize to older adults; would there be differences between young adults who are or are not in college;
were the findings similar for men and women (external validity)? Did they use valid scales to measure sleep, anxiety, and
depression (construct validity)?
If the study was experimental, which variable was manipulated (i.e., the independent variable) and which variable was
measured (i.e., the dependent variable)? Explain how they manipulated the independent variable, which groups they
compared, and how they assessed the dependent variable. Discuss at least one issue related to construct, internal, or
external validity that should be considered.

 Experimental methods involve a manipulation of the independent variable and a comparison of at least two groups who were
randomly assigned to receive different levels of the independent variable. For a study to use the experimental method, the
researchers controlled/manipulated an independent variable and measured the outcome of this manipulation on the dependent
variable.
o Example: According to Hayashi et al. (2003), participants who were assigned to drink caffeine and take a short nap
reported feeling more rested compared to participants who were assigned to take a short nap then wash their face. In this
study they were assigned to either drink caffeine then take a short nap or take a short nap then wash their face (i.e., the
independent variable was which condition participants were assigned to) to see which condition resulted in feeling more alert
(i.e., the dependent variable). A few issues would be the age of the participants (external validity), the amount of caffeine
administered compared to how much the person usually consumes in a day (internal validity), and the measurement of
alertness (construct validity). 

Question 5 (2 points): What do you think about the credibility of the news article? Did you find it reputable? Why or why not? 

Things to think about: Could you easily locate the primary source of the information being reported by clicking around on links in the
article? Where was it published and what could you find out about this type of media publication? Did the news article indicate
causation from correlational research? Did the news article make claims big claims that don't seem to be supported by references to
research? 

You will need multiple, detailed sentences to earn full credit.

Question 6 (4 points): Because all humans are biased, what biases may have impacted your ability to objectively evaluate the
information in the article? Why?

To complete this question, you must visit this site (https://yourbias.is/) and click through the different cognitive biases. I want you to
pick at least 2 biases that could have affected your interpretation of the information.  

You will need multiple, detailed sentences to earn full credit. 

Question 7 (2 points): After thinking more in-depth about the article, list one question/observation that demonstrates critical thinking
about the “big picture” conclusions from the article.

Ideas to consider: What would you ask the researcher if they were visiting class? What connections can you make to other class
topics? What would be a good follow-up study that could expand knowledge in this area?

You will need multiple, detailed sentences to earn full credit.