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Imagine you are conducting a study on the relationship between screentime and academic performance, and you use partial correlation to statistically control for sleep duration. Explain how you would apply the concepts of the directionality problem and unmeasured third variables to explain to your readers why you still cannot conclude that screentime causes changes in academic performance.
Question: Imagine you are conducting a study on the relationship between screentime and academic performance, and you use partial correlation to statistically control for sleep duration. Explain how you would apply the concepts of the directionality problem and unmeasured third variables to explain to your readers why you still cannot conclude that screentime causes changes in academic performance.
Sample answer: Even though sleep duration is statistically controlled using partial correlation, we still cannot draw a definitive causal conclusion. First, applying the directionality problem, it remains possible that academic performance influences screentime rather than screentime causing changes in academic performance. Second, there could be other unmeasured third variables that we did not consider and statistically control—such as parental involvement or socioeconomic status—which might be the actual drivers of the relationship.
Key points:
- Applying the directionality problem to the study variables.
- Explaining the limitation of other unmeasured third variables.
- Justifying the inability to draw definitive causal conclusions.
Rubric:
- Student applies the directionality problem specifically to the screentime and academic performance variables. 2. Student explains that other unmeasured third variables (beyond sleep duration) could still drive the relationship. 3. Student concludes that causal claims are not permitted.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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