PART I: INDUCTION: This part of the assignment is based on the article, “College Rape Prevention Program Proves a Rare Success”, by Jan Hoffman, from the New York Times, for which a link is provided below.
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The focus of the essay in Part I is on how the media reports this study, and not how the study appears in peer-reviewed journals.
PART I: INDUCTION: 20 points
After reading the above article from the NY Times, interweave the answers to the following questions (both #1 and #2) into one essay of approximately 2 – 3 double-spaced pages. Your essay may be longer than 3 pages, but should not be excessively long. Your essay should not be shorter than 1 double-spaced page of 22 lines.
1) Analyze and evaluate all the elements in the research design used in the main study mentioned in this article insofar as its design is reported in this article. (Your essay should address the report of the study in the NY Times article, and not the study as it appeared in any peer-reviewed journals. Part of this exercise is to evaluate what we hear in media reports of studies.)
Use the electronic reserves articles, “Inductive Generalizations” from “Becoming a Critical Thinker” by Sherry Diestler (found on Blackboard Learn), and the link in BB Learn, Week 9, on statistical surveys (from this same book and author), whichever one is most relevant to this study for a guideline as to what elements should be in either statistical research or research design and what criteria one should be using to evaluate statistical research or research designs. (For evaluation of the research, you may want to draw upon both articles, regardless of which design is more applicable to this study. Evaluation of the research is addressed question #2 for this essay.)
What elements of the research designs or statistical research are omitted from the report of the study in the NY Times article, and why is it important to know about the omitted elements in order to evaluate the conclusions of these studies?
AND (in the same essay, interweave answers to the following questions)
2) Evaluate any research findings found in the above study, according to the criteria for evaluating either a statistical study or research design (whichever is applicable). In making this evaluation, clarify what, if any, claims about causes, are made, and/or what, if any, correlations are established by this study, and/or what the results of this study are (whichever of these is most applicable to the study as reported in the article). Explain what the difference between a correlation and a cause is, and why it is important to understand the difference between a correlation and a cause. Indicate whether you think enough evidence has been shown to support any claims about cause or any other claims or conclusions drawn from this study, at least as reported in the NY Times article. How reliable is the sample? Are there some possible alternative explanations for the results of this study, and, if so, what might they be? Are there any problems with this study and/or are there further questions you would want the researchers to answer before you accepted their findings, and, if so what are some of these questions? Do you have any recommendations as to what further research could be done as regards rape on college campuses? Lastly, are causal generalizations (as a type of inductive generalization) ever absolutely certain, and why or why not?
ASSIGNED READINGS FROM WHICH TO DRAW: Do not rely on the internet to write this essay – try to draw from the power point presentations from Weeks 6 – 8 for this unit, and from the assigned readings. Answers to these questions should be based on our discussion of the assigned readings on cause and correlation and margin of error; and any of the electronic reserves articles assigned for this unit, such as “Causal Analysis” from “The Elements of Reasoning” by Ronald Munson; and “Proposing Explanations” from “A Beginner’s Guide to Scientific Method”, by Stephen Carey; and “Choice and Chance”, by B. Skyrms, that you might find relevant to this essay on induction. You should also draw upon the articles on course reserves mentioned in question #1 above, as well as chapter 5 of your text.
Be sure to answer all parts of questions #1 and #2 in one coherent essay. The main difference between question #2 and the above question #1 is that the above question #1 addresses the design of the research, while this question #2 addresses the findings of the research. However, evaluation of the findings of the research is related to the design of the research, so there should be some overlap in your answers. Therefore, you should combine your answers to #1 and #2 in one essay, but make sure you completely answer both sets of questions.
