After matching students based on their pre-college voting behaviors, the researchers found that students who had taken a political science class became more likely to register to vote. Photo credit: Lakshmiprasad/Depositphotos In the online news outlet called The Conversation, researchers write summaries of their own research studies for a general audience. Here's an example from …
Continue reading Taking Poli Sci predicts likelihood of voting
Which alternative explanations for the relationship between diet and mental health does this study allow us to rule out? Photo credit: ArturVerkhovetskiy/Deposit Photos Here's a simple headline to work with: "Kids who eat more fruits, vegetables have better mental health". The story appears on a mega-site called studyfinds.org, which provides multiple summaries of science research. …
Continue reading Kids who eat more fruits, vegetables have better mental health
Photo credit: Dangubic/Deposit Photos Here's a link to CNN's coverage of a study on alcohol use and gray matter in the brain. The headline reads, "Drinking any amount of alcohol causes damage to the brain, study finds." Let's consider how well the study supports the causal claim the journalist (or the editor) attached to it. …
Continue reading Claim: “Drinking any amount of alcohol causes damage to the brain”
People might start musical training early because they are living in musical families or show early evidence of musical talent. Photo credit: Artem Furman, Alamy stock photo What accounts for musicality? Some people are highly skilled and accomplished musicians, while others express no aptitude. A recent correlational study tried to understand why some people are …
Continue reading Musical skill: Why does an early start seem to help?
Does the study's method support the claim that attending arts events makes you live longer? Photo credit: agefotostock/Alamy We'll never run out of material in the "correlation is not causation" department. This time, a New York Times journalist led with the headline, "Another benefit of going to museums? You may live longer." Let's check out the …
Continue reading Claim: “Going to museums and concerts helps you live longer”
One of the proposed mediators of the effect was that teachers report better relationships with attractive students.Photo credit: FatCamera/Getty Images File this one under: Depressing, but we suspected it all along. The Washington Post ran a summary of research that looked at the link between school achievement and physical appearance. A new study finds that good looking …
The study found an association between dog ownership and longevity. Which third variables were controlled for? Which third variables might still be responsible for the relationship? Photo: Shutterstock I can't resist blogging about research on dogs. Here's a story on NPR that summarized several studies that have tested the correlation between longevity and dog ownership. …
The study showed that moms with larger social support networks had kids with higher cognitive test scores. Photo: Noriko Cooper / Alamy Stock Photo The Washington Post headline reads, "Mothers' friendships may be good for babies' brains." The story is about an empirical study on mothers' social networks. Although it says "babies' brains", the study …
Continue reading Claim: Mothers’ friendships are good for babies’ brains
Which comes first, social media use or depression? Photo:Africa Studio/Shutterstock We have seen multiple studies that have tried to estimate how strong the link is between social media use and depression among young adults. We've covered some of these studies on this blog, including the effect size of the correlation and even a brain imaging …
Continue reading Which comes first? Cross-lag study on depression and social media use
What evidence would it take to convince us that it's the schools, not other factors, that are responsible for the outcomes of private school students? Photo: Image Source / Alamy Stock Photo A large study has compared the outcomes of children who've attended private schools to those who've attended public schools. A journalist summarized the …