Description
Summarize and critique a psychology research study described in the popular press (e.g., on a news website). You must find a research study yourself; it is not acceptable to use an article that was assigned as reading in this class. You should read both the popular article and the original research report.
A single write-up should be 400-500 words long, and each is worth one SONA credit (1% of your final grade for the course). Three 400-500 word write-ups will satisfy the full SONA requirement for the course. Each write-up consists of two parts.
First, summarize the original research article (from the scholarly journal):
- State the hypothesis tested in the study. Provide background information as necessary to contextualize the hypothesis.
- Briefly summarize the design of the study, including the type ofresearch conducted the IV/predictor, the DV/criterion, and operationaldefinitions of the variables.
- Summarize the general findings of the study.
- State the conclusions that the researcher(s) drew from the findings.
Second, briefly critique the way the study was reported in the popular source by addressing at least one of the following:
- Did the popular source misrepresent any part of the study design? If so, how?
- Did the popular source misrepresent the conclusions of the study(e.g. by suggesting a causal relationship when there wasnt evidence forone or by generalizing the findings of the study inappropriately)?
- Did the popular source acknowledge any of the limitations of thestudy that the original authors discussed? If so, do you think they did agood job? If not, what limitations did they overlook and why do theymatter?
- Do you think the popular source does a good job overall of communicating the results of this scientific study? Why or why not?
It is up to you to find a study to summarize and critique in each of your write-ups. Be sure to include references to the sources you consult for each write-up. (Web links are preferred.)
If you are not sure where to look to find a good article, I
recommend checking the following sites (though you are certainly not
restricted to these!):
- The New York Times – www.nytimes.com (Links to an external site.)
- The Atlantic – www.atlantic.com (Links to an external site.)
- The New Yorker – www.newyorker.com (Links to an external site.)
- The Guardian – www.theguardian.com (Links to an external site.)
- The Huffington Post – www.huffingtonpost.com (Links to an external site.)
- Psychology Today – www.psychologytoday.com (Links to an external site.)
- The Wall Street Journal – www.wsj.com (Links to an external site.)
- Quartz – qz.com (Links to an external site.)
Each write-up, from start to finish, should take roughly one hour tocomplete (i.e., should take about as long as completing one SONA credit)and will be graded pass/fail.
PLEASE COMPLETE 3 OF THESE, SHOULD BE ROUGHLY 1300-1500 WORDS.
