Studying the relationship between the level of people’s self-esteem and their income levels.
Textbook: Research Methods in Psychology by Beth Morling
Chapter 3 Three Claims, Four Validities: Interrogation Tools for Consumers of Research
Study #1: Dr. Stevens and her research assistants were studying the relationship between the level of people’s self-esteem and their income levels. They asked participants in their study to report their annual income and then asked them to take a test that measured their level of self-esteem. Results of the study showed that as annual income increased, self-esteem scores increased.
1. Is this a correlational study or an experiment ?
2. If it is a correlational study, what direction is the correlation/association between the variables? If it is an experiment, which is the independent variable (IV) and which is the dependent variable (DV)?
3. From this study, can we conclude that income causes an increase in self-esteem? Explain why or why not.
Study #2: Researchers randomly assigned participants to ingest Kombucha and others to ingest a placebo (water flavored to taste similar to Kombucha and in a Kombucha’s bottle but without the key ingredients of Kombucha). The participants as well as the researcher assistants were unaware of who received Kombucha and who received the placebo. After participants in both groups ingested their assigned beverage, researchers read to all of the participants of the study at the same time a list of ten letters. On average, the Kombucha group recalled 10 letters while on average the placebo group recalled 5 letters.
4. Is this a correlational study or an experiment?
5. If it is a correlational study, what direction is the correlation/association between the variables? If it is an experiment, which is the independent variable (IV) and which is the dependent variable (DV)?
6. From this study, can we conclude that Kombucha causes better recall? Explain why or why not.
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