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Exercise 2-1G: Reading Science Critically

Step 1: Locate a scientific article to use for this activity. 
Step 2: Then, with one group member, discuss and examine the article. Use the questions listed about statistics to analyze it. Post your responses to Forums in Sakai: 
  1. Has a study been done, or is a claim being made on the basis of only limited observations? If a study was done, how was it designed and conducted? 
  2. What are the numbers? Was the study large enough (did it have enough patients or experiments or whatever) to lead to believable conclusions? Are the results statistically significant? 
  3. Are there other possible explanations for the study’s conclusions? 
  4. Could any form of bias have affected the study’s conclusions, unintentional or otherwise? 
  5. Have the findings been checked by other experts? And how do the findings fit with other research knowledge and beliefs?

 

For an editable Google doc of this exercise that you can download, click here.