Timothy McCall
General Psychology I – H111
Instructor: Peter Boyle
September 26th, 2007
Fall 2007 Semester
Assignment # 2:
Find an Article, in a newspaper, magazine or on the internet that deals with either
an experimental or correlational study. If unable to find an adequate article, then an
article dealing with nutrition, health, education or ethics will be appropriate.
Task: Read and Analyze the article utilizing critical thinking techniques and
methodologies.
Task: Write a 1 or 2 page essay demonstrating the process of critical thinking.
Essay: “Critical Analysis (Thinking) and Experimental/Correlational Studies”
For the purposes of this essay I selected two (2) articles from the Psychology
Today Website. (http://www.psychologytoday.com). Each of these articles deals with a
Psychological Research Study into Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (P.T.S.D.), albeit
utilizing slightly different investigational methodologies and objectives.
Article # 1 is entitled, “A Treatment for PTSD? By Colin Allen[1]
Article # 2 is entitled, “The Effect of Personality on PTSD” by Peter Rebham[2]
Each of these articles examines a different aspect of PTSD. Article # 1 attempts to
draw a correlation between the treatment of patients receiving an anti-anxiety drug,
proprionol and a diminishment of associated symptoms after experiencing a traumatic
event, while article # 2 attempts to establish a correlation of pre-disposing personality
characteristics with the incidence of occurrence in PTSD in returning United Nations
Peacekeeping Force members from duties in a conflict region.
Each of the articles presented on the Psychology Today Website is rather sparse
in its inclusion of supporting statistical documentation to allow an in-depth analysis of
the material utilized in reaching the purported conclusions regarding each study. That
being said, Psychology Today is, I assume, a peer-reviewed, professional journal. It’s
Editorial Staff would most likely not have reported on the studies findings if they had not,
at a minimum, had a qualified staff expert review the associated supporting
documentation prior to publication.
Critical Thinking is defined in our textbook. “Psychology, by David G. Meyers”
on page 24, as: “Thinking that’s does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions.
Rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses
conclusions.
Utilizing this methodology I would say the following areas could become
problematic regarding information presented and utilized in these articles.
In reviewing Article #1, a non-randomized, statistically small, number of subjects
were utilized to generate a hypothetical correlation between treatment with the drug,
proprionol, and the diminishment or elimination of symptoms associated with PTSD. The
conclusion I would reach in assessing the relevancy of these findings utilizing critical
thinking is that additional supporting studies using standard Psychological
Investigational Studies methodologies: i.e., a randomized, double-blind, statistically
significant sample of subjects, would be required prior to determining the relevancy of
this studies hypotheses. Overall, I would say the hypotheses postulated by this authors
study is admirable, but that additional investigation would be required to fully support the
correlation implied in the article.
In reviewing Article #2, another study is presented which also attempts to
illustrate a correlation between the studies results and the author’s hypotheses. While the
sample could potentially be statistically significant, all participants are derived from one
study group. Namely, United Nations Peacekeeping Force members returning from
assignment in a conflict zone. In studying PSTD, it is obvious that the most desirable
subjects for study would be those subjects most at risk for exposure to traumatic events
that would be highly likely to lead to specifically identifiable symptoms associated with a
diagnosis of PTSD. Therefore the non-randomized sample could potentially be a non-
issue. Another potential issue would be the testing mechanism utilized to determine what
are characterized as “pre-disposing” personality characteristics. If the same test were
administered after returning from the conflict zone, are potential biasing factors
introduced? As in the analysis presented in Article #1 above. Many of the same metrics
of critical thinking apply. The article is presented in a peer-reviewed article. The
underlying statistical data is assumed to be valid as reviewed by editorial staff. The study
was utilized to generate a hypothetical correlation between pre-disposing personality
characteristics, and the increased probability of suffering symptoms associated with
PTSD. Again, I would conclude that the hypotheses postulated by this authors
study is admirable, but that additional investigation would be required to fully support the
correlation implied in the article.
Attachment A:
Attachment B
No comments:
Post a Comment