Hi, Annette -- I do something very much like this, but *after* students have had methods/stats. Before then (in methods) I will have them bring in the popular report on the research and answer questions about it, like "What else do you want to know in order to believe this?" and things like that. That might be a good exercise.
And for the beginning students you might model for them what you want them to be able to do, so you could choose the article.... That might help get them along the road you want them on? Take care, m -- Marc Carter, PhD Associate Professor of Psychology Chair, Department of Behavioral and Health Sciences College of Arts & Sciences Baker University -- > -----Original Message----- > From: Annette Taylor [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2012 9:47 PM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Subject: [tips] research methods activity > > I am hoping that there is some collective wisdom at the well for me > tonight. I was planning to use a couple of media reports and primary > articles to have students compare the quality of the information > presented in them. I had hoped to have students read the media reports; > answer a number of questions about quality and then look to the source > papers to find the answers. Bah! Not working too well. > > Now maybe I am a stickler, but, on rereading the journal articles I > found myself completely dissatisfied with all the weaknesses of the > published papers! They were either too hard for me (let alone freshmen > with no stats classes behind them) to understand the results, or seemed > to minimize the correlation is not causation argument. BIG DEEP SIGH. > Or they simply had no answers to the important questions. I had been > hoping to use them just for that reason: the media outlets clearly took > the results too far. But now I see that the source articles are drawing > more grandiose conclusions than their data warrant! This seems to be a > popular theme of late. > > So, do any of you use this activity. What articles do you use? What are > your criteria? Are mine too stringent? > > Help?! > > Here are the articles I was going to use: > > Here are Mike's links from this morning: > http://www.asanet.org/documents/press/pdfs/AM_2012_Carolyn_Hsu_News_Rel > ease.pdf > Note that this is just a brief report and lacks detail. > Popular media: > http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2012/08/20/health-buzz- > college-binge-drinkers-report-being-happier > And here: > http://scienceblog.com/56149/binge-drinking-college-students-are- > happier-than-their-non-binge-drinking-peers/ > And here: > http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/08/20/binge-drinking- > makes-students-happy > And here, on the LiveScience website: > http://www.livescience.com/22512-college-binge-drinkers-happier.html > > Here are the articles about caffeine, women and depression: > http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2011/09/27/140837983/caffeinated- > women-may-be-fighting-depression-with-every-cup > and > http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/26/health/women-depression-coffee/index.html > and the source article: > http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1105943 > I did get the whole article for this one and found myself completely > unable to evaluate their statistics. > > Here are the articles about sexual activity and song lyrics: > http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14227775/ns/health-sexual_health/t/dirty- > song-lyrics-can-prompt-early-teen-sex/ > and > http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5629465 > and the source article > http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/118/2/e430.full.pdf+html > > for stressed men and heavy women: > http://healthland.time.com/2012/08/09/why-stressed-out-men-prefer- > heavier-women/ > and > http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/health/stressed-out-men-find-heavier- > women-attractive > and the source paper: > http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0042 > 593 > > Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. > Professor, Psychological Sciences > University of San Diego > 5998 Alcala Park > San Diego, CA 92110 > [email protected] > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13029.76c7c563b32ad9d8d09c72a2d17c90e > 1&n=T&l=tips&o=19923 > or send a blank email to leave-19923- > [email protected] The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by Baker University ("BU") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify Baker University by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=19932 or send a blank email to leave-19932-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
