stat paper

STAT 113 Mixable Assignment

Good habits vs. bad habits

60 points total

Search online for an article or video that goes into detail about the scientific evidence for or against one of your potentially controversial bad or good habits. Some examples of potential controversial good/bad habits include (but certainly are not limited to):

tanning, eating bacon and other cured meats, vegetarian diet, vegan diet, Atkins diet, drinking soda, using artificial sweeteners, skiing without a helmet, participating in endurance sports, pulling all-nighters before exams, binge drinking, taking herbal supplements, biting your nails, getting pedicures in a salon, wearing deodorants with aluminum,…

If you choose the same habit as somebody else in your class, make sure your arguments and article are different. If you have trouble finding a research article, the Purdue research librarians are excellent resources. One of the things you will need to discuss about your article is what type of article it is. Here are your choices:

· A primary source research journal article is written by the researchers who conducted the study. Examples of research journals are Science, Nature, the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science (PNAS), and Journal of the American Medical Association, but there are many others. Primary source research articles always begin with an abstract that summarizes the research in that article.* If you do an internet search for your topic, you will find lots of abstracts to read.

· A review article is published in a research journal summarizing several other research projects, hopefully with details about those other studies.

· A secondary source is a summary article written by a science reporter but not by the researchers. Secondary sources can be easier to read and give you a good overview of the research, but you generally need to find a primary source to get enough details to understand what the researchers did. MSNBC, WebMD, and Newsweek are examples of secondary sources.

These are the questions that you must discuss in your Mixable post (40 points total):

1. (2 points) “Tag” your post with the habit name. For example, “tanning” or “pedicures in salon.”

2. (2 points) Begin with a sentence about your good or bad habit and why you have this habit.

3. (10 points) Include a link to the appropriate, unique article that you found. If your article is easily accessible on the internet, include the link to the whole article. If you used a journal article through the Purdue library, then give the link to the abstract and state that you had to get the full article from the Purdue library. (Be prepared to produce the whole article upon request from the instructor.)

4. (2 points) Is your article a primary source, review article, or secondary source? How do you know?

5. (6 points) Summarize the research in a few sentences, as if you are a science reporter for the Exponent. Be sure to include all important details about the research, including the conclusion.

6. (4 points) Identify whether the research project in your article is an observational study or an experiment and how you know this. If there are treatment groups, specify what they are.

7. (4 points) Who/what was the sample used? Give as many details as possible. How was the sample collected (voluntary response, convenience sample, simple random sample stratified random sample, or something else)?

8. (4 points) Did the researchers show causation instead of just association? Why or why not? Use what we know from STAT 113 about what is required to show causation.

9. (2 points) State at least one extension of the research into your habit that you would like to see to give you a better explanation of why your habit is good or bad.

10. (4 points) After reading this article, do you plan on continuing with your habit? Give specific reasons why or why not.

You also need to make 4 statistically intelligent comments that further the discussion on other people’s posts (worth 5 points each). Here are some things you might want to discuss:

· Do you think the research is biased? Why or why not? Use appropriate STAT 113 terminology (nonresponse, response bias, undercoverage) and explain your reasoning.

· Are there lurking variables that should be considered? Why might they be important?

· Do you see any problems with how this research was done or presented? Explain your answer.

· What is/are the main response variable(s) in your article, and is it/are they categorical or quantitative?

· Were any graphs used? If so, what type, and what do they show? If not, what type of graph would be appropriate for this data, and what would that graph show?

· If it’s an experiment, were the 3 principles of good experimental design used?

· If it’s an experiment, are the ethics of good experiments with people or animals being used?

· How would you extend this research in some good, statistically correct way? What other questions would you like to ask the researchers that wasn’t explained in the link?

· Are there other ways to get more information about this research question?

· If it’s an observational study, could this have been turned into an experiment? Why or why not?

* Note on primary sources: Sometimes the journal articles that go with these abstracts are easily accessible, and sometimes the sites ask you to pay for the privilege of reading their articles. You do not need to pay anybody anything. Purdue has paid for membership to most of these journals for you. If you can't easily get access to the articles online, try the Purdue library website or talk to a librarian. Don't wait until the due date to start this process though! If you get your article from the librarian, then you need to at least provide the website for the abstract in your text so that your reader can read the abstract. If you can get the whole article easily online, then provide the website for the whole article.

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