Unit 09

Unit 9:
How to Evaluate Alternative Hypotheses
 Unit 9: Assignment #1 (due before 11:59 pm Central on MON JUL 15):

  1. In the last Unit, you learned about reliability and validity as applied to research. In this Unit, you’re going to learn about threats to internal validity, which can also be considered candidates for alternative hypotheses.
  2. To learn nine candidates for alternative hypotheses:
    1. First, watch Professor Gernsbacher’s (2017) lecture video “How to Evaluate Alternative Hypotheses.” (A captioned version is here, and a transcript is here.)
      • While watching this video, take notes, as well as stop the video and write notes.
      • For each of the nine candidates for alternative hypotheses mentioned in the lecture video, write down in your notes:
        • the name of the alternative hypothesis;
        • the description of that alternative hypothesis given in the lecture video; and
        • at least one of the examples of that alternative hypothesis that was given in the lecture video.
    2. Second, to make sure you’re completely clear on the alternative hypothesis called “Regression to the Mean,” after you watch the lecture video also read RationalWiki’s (2017) entry on “Regression to the Mean.”
  3. Now, for each of the nine candidates for alternative hypotheses:
    1. First, write a description of that alternative hypothesis in your own words.
    2. Second, think of and write down one more example of that alternative hypothesis
      • Your additional example must not be any of the examples that were mentioned in the lecture video (or in RationalWiki’s, 2017, entry).
  4. Go to the Unit 9: Assignment #1 Discussion Board and make a new post in which you create a numbered list (1., 2., 3., …) of each of the NINE candidates for alternative hypotheses. Include in your numbered list the following:
    1. the name of the alternative hypothesis;
    2. a description, in your own words, of that alternative hypothesis;
    3. at least one of the examples of that alternative hypothesis that was given in the lecture video (or in RationalWiki’s, 2017, entry); and
    4. your own example of that alternative hypothesis.
    5. To get your numbering — for your numbered list — you will need to do one of the following:
      • type the numbers into the textbox yourself OR
      • ask the Discussion Board to number your list for you (by clicking on the numbering icon) OR
      • type the numbers into your Microsoft Word or Google doc yourself, rather than relying on Word or Google doc to automatically number your list for you. (The numbers that Word and Google automatically add do not always copy over to the Discussion Board.)
  5. NOTE: It would be a good idea to begin working on Unit 9: Assignment #2 because there’s a substantial amount to read for that Assignment.

Unit 9: Assignment #2 (due before 11:59 pm Central on MON JUL 15):

  1. To apply your knowledge of alternative hypotheses to actual research studies, read the excerpt from Huck and Sandler’s (1979) book, Rival Hypotheses: Alternative Interpretations of Data-Based Conclusions  (Part One).
  2. NOTE: This is a password-protected PDF. You’ll need to type in a password to read the PDF.
    1. The password is the email subject heading you’re supposed to use in this course when you email a question.
    2. Capitalization, punctuation, and spacing matter for this password.
    3. If you’re initially unable to open the PDF, and you’re sure you’re inputting the correct password:
      • Try a different browser. Some browsers are set to a default level of security that interferes with opening password-protected files. Using a different browser (which is a good go-to solution for a lot of Internet-related problems) should help.
      • Save the PDF onto your own computer, and open the PDF there (using Adobe Reader, Preview, or another PDF reader), rather than trying to open the PDF in your browser.
  3. ALSO NOTE: Huck and Sandler’s book is specifically written with the researchers and their studies as the topics. Huck and Sandler’s book is NOT “synthesized” psychological science; rather, it is “analytical” psychological science. Make sure you appreciate the difference.
  4. For each of the 18 studies presented in the excerpt from Huck and Sandler’s (1979) book, identify how the alternative hypothesis that is listed after each study’s title (e.g., “A Painful Look at Hunger: Correlation Isn’t Causation”) can explain the study’s results.
  5. Go to the Unit 9: Assignment #2 Discussion Board and make a numbered list (1., 2., 3., …) of the 18 studies in Huck and Sandler’s (1979) book excerpt. For each of the 18 studies,
    1. provide the title of the study and its alternative hypothesis (e.g., “A Painful Look at Hunger: Correlation Isn’t Causation”) and
    2. explain, in at least 50 words, how the alternative hypothesis can explain the study’s results.
    3. To get your numbering — for your numbered list — you will need to do one of the following:
      • type the numbers into the textbox yourself OR
      • ask the Discussion Board to number your list for you (by clicking on the numbering icon) OR
      • type the numbers into your Microsoft Word or Google doc yourself, rather than relying on Word or Google doc to automatically number your list for you. (The numbers that Word and Google automatically add do not always copy over to the Discussion Board.)

Unit 9: Assignment #3 (due before 11:59 pm Central on TUE JUL 16):

  1. Now it’s time to apply what you’ve learned in the first two assignments about how to evaluate alternative hypotheses when you’re reading scientific articles that are reported in the popular press.
  2. Find five popular press articles, as opposed to scholarly articles, each of which reports the results of a scientific study AND for which at least one of the nine alternative hypotheses, excluding Correlation Isn’t Causation, could explain the results of that scientific study.
  3. Go to the Unit 9: Assignment #3 and #5 Discussion Board and make a new post in which you list (in a numbered list, 1., 2., 3., …) the five popular press articles you have found. For each of the five popular press articles, do the following:
    1. First, provide a link to the popular press article (use the name of the popular press article for the text that you embed as a link, e.g., Why You Shouldn’t Eat Late at Night, According to Science).
    2. Second, identify the alternative hypothesis that could explain the study’s results.
    3. Third, explain, in at least 50 words, how the alternative hypothesis can explain the study’s results.
    4. Fourth, remember that you can’t use the alternative hypothesis Correlation Isn’t Causation for this Assignment (because you analyzed popular press articles for that alternative hypothesis back in Unit 4).

Unit 9: Assignment #4 (due before 11:59 pm Central on TUE JUL 16):

  1. Select your favorite three alternative hypotheses, and teach all three to three different people you know (friends, family members, roommates, and the like).
    • You can teach each person via email, phone, text, Zoom, in-person, or any other communication medium.
    • But you must teach all three of your favorite alternative hypotheses to three different people at three separate times.
    • AND you cannot teach Correlation Isn’t Causation, because you already taught people that alternative hypothesis (in Unit 4).
  2. When you’re teaching your favorite three alternative hypotheses to three different people, provide an example that was given in the lecture video or in RationalWiki’s (2017) entry of each of the three alternative hypotheses.
  3. To make sure each of the three people learns your favorite three alternative hypotheses, ask each person to tell you one more example (that you did not tell them and that did not appear in the course materials) of each of the three alternative hypotheses.
  4. To document each of your three teaching sessions, take a screenshot during each of your three teaching sessions of your email exchange, your phone record, your text message exchange, or your Zoom session.
      • Make sure your screenshot shows the date on which you held the teaching session.
      • Make sure your screenshot is of only your email exchange, your phone record, your text message exchange, or your Zoom session — not your entire screen.
      • If you do not know how to take a screenshot from your laptop or tablet, this website will help you. It provides instructions for Mac, Windows, and other operating systems.
    • If you are holding the teaching session in-person, take a selfie of yourself with the person you are teaching.
      • Make sure the selfie shows the date on which you held the teaching session, which you can accomplish by having the other person hold up their phone to show the date on the home screen.
      • If the other person wants you to blur their face, that’s fine. Or they can simply hold up a piece of paper in front of their face.
  5. Go to the Unit 9: Assignment #4 Discussion Board and make a new Discussion Board post of at least 200 words in which you state the following:
    1. which three alternative hypotheses you taught the three people;
    2. why you chose those three alternative hypotheses;
    3. which example of each of the three alternative hypotheses from the assigned course materials that you told the people you taught;
    4. what medium you used to teach each of the three people (text message, email, Zoom, Facebook, phone call, in-person, etc); and
    5. For each of the three people you taught,
      • state each person’s initials (e.g., MG)
      • state each person’s approximate age; and
      • state the example that each person provided of each of the three alternative hypotheses.
    6. Lastly, embed in your Discussion Board post each of the three images (i.e., the screenshots or selfies you took to document your teaching session). Remember the sizing requirements and the requirement to include “Alt Text.“

Unit 9: Assignment #5 (due before 11:59 pm Central on WED JUL 17):

  1. To cement your learning about alternative hypotheses, go to the Unit 9: Assignment #3 and #5 Discussion Board and read the posts made by the other members (or member) of your Chat Group.
    1. If you’re in a Chat Group with two other members, choose one of the studies that each of your two Chat Group members found and posted (for a total of two studies).
    2. If you’re in a Chat Group with only one other member, choose two of the studies that the other member of your Chat Group found and posted.
  2. Now, pretend that instead of your Chat Group Member(s) finding and posting these two studies on our class Discussion Board as examples of studies with alternative hypotheses, two relatives or acquaintances of yours posted the two studies on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media as recommendations to their friends and followers.
  3. Still pretending that instead of your Chat Group Member(s) posting these two studies, your relatives or acquaintances did, write a response to your relatives or acquaintances explaining to them why the two studies they posted have alternative hypotheses.
    1. You must write two separate Discussion Board responses (you must make two separate reply posts, even if you’re responding to the same Chat Group member).
    2. Each of your two Discussion Board responses must be at least 200 words.
    3. You must explain the alternative hypotheses in terms that your relatives or acquaintances will understand.
    4. Address each of your two responses to fictitious people, such as “Dear Aunt Bessie” or “Hey, Freshman Roommate” rather than your Chat Group member(s).
  4. If you are in a Chat Group with two other members, and one of the two other Chat Group members hasn’t yet posted their Unit 9: Assignment #3 — and the due date for Unit 9: Assignment #3 has passed — you should make one response to the Chat Group member who has already posted their Unit 9: Assignment #3 and one response to another student who is not in your Chat Group.
    • If you are in a Chat Group with two other members, and neither of the two other Chat Group members has yet posted their Unit 9: Assignment #3 — and the due date for Unit 9: Assignment #3 has passed — you should make your two responses to two students who are not in your Chat Group.
    • If you are in a Chat Group with only one other member, and that other Chat Group member hasn’t yet posted their Unit 9: Assignment #3 — and the due date for Unit 9: Assignment #3 has passed — you should make two responses to one or two other students who are not in your Chat Group.

Unit 9: Assignment #6 (due before 11:59 pm Central on WED JUL 17):

  1. Read a second excerpt from Huck and Sandler’s (1979) book, Rival Hypotheses: Alternative Interpretations of Data-Based Conclusions (Part Two).
    1. NOTE: This is a different PDF than the PDF you read in Unit 9: Assignment #1; however, this PDF is also password protected. Therefore, you’ll again need to type in a password to read the file. The password is again the email subject heading that you are supposed to use in this course when you email a question. (Capitalization, punctuation, and spacing again matter for this password.)
    2. NOTE AGAIN: Huck and Sandler’s book is specifically written with the researchers and their studies as the topics (i.e., Huck and Sandler’s book is NOT “synthesized” psychological science; rather, it is “analytical” psychological science). Make sure you again appreciate the difference between synthesizing psychological science and analyzing it (as Huck and Sandler have done).
  2. This second excerpt from Huck and Sandler’s book presents nine additional studies.
    1. Unlike the Part One excerpt you read for Unit 9: Assignment #1, the studies presented in this Part Two excerpt are not labeled with alternative hypotheses that could explain each study’s results.
    2. Identifying which alternative hypothesis (or hypotheses, plural) can explain each study’s results will be your Chat Group’s task.
  3. Meet online with your (“new”) Chat Group at the time your Chat Group arranged for your one-hour text-based Chat.
    1. Begin your hour-long Chat by doing the following:
      • First, introduce yourselves, including the name mnemonic that each Chat Group member provided in Unit 1: Assignment #2.
      • Second, each Chat Group member needs to indicate ONE of the nine “How Are You Feeling at the START of Today’s Group Chat?” images. More than one Chat Group member can indicate the same image if that’s how they are feeling, and please refer to each image by its number.
    2. Then, during your hour-long Chat, identify as a group, which alternative hypothesis (or hypotheses) can explain each study’s results.
    3. For each study, in addition to identifying which alternative hypothesis (or hypotheses) can explain the study’s results, draft — as a group — at least 50 words explaining how each  alternative hypothesis (or hypotheses) can explain the study’s results.
    4. NOTE: None of the studies in this excerpt (Part Two) can be explained by Correlation Isn’t Causation, and some of the studies can be explained by more than one alternative hypothesis.
  4. At the end of your one-hour Chat:
    1. Nominate one member of your Chat Group (who participated in the Chat) to make a post, after the Group Chat is over, on the Unit 9: Assignment #6 Discussion Board that does the following:
      1. First, list the title of the study and its alternative hypothesis or hypotheses (if more than one alternative hypothesis can explain the study’s results).
      2. Second, explain, in at least 50 words, how the alternative hypothesis can explain the study’s results.
      3. Remember that none of the studies in this excerpt can be explained by the alternative hypothesis, Correlation Isn’t Causality.
    2. Nominate another member of your Chat Group (who participated in the Group Chat using the browser Chrome on their laptop, rather than on their mobile device) to, after the Group Chat is over, save the Chat transcript, in PDF, as described in the Course How To (under the topic, “How To Save and Attach a Chat Transcript”), and attach the Chat transcript, in PDF, to a Unit 9: Assignment #6 Discussion Board post.
    3. Nominate another member of your Chat Group (who also participated in the Chat) to make another post on the Unit 9: Assignment #6 Discussion Board, after the Group Chat is over, that states the name of the assignment (Unit 9: Assignment #6), the full name of your Chat Group, the first and last names of each Chat Group member who participated in the Group Chat, the day (e.g., Sunday) and date of this Group Chat (e.g., June 13), the start and stop time of this Group Chat (e.g., 1pm to 2pm), AND the day, date, start and stop time of your NEXT Group Chat (e.g., Sunday, June 20 from 1pm to 2pm).
    4. If only two persons participated in the Chat, then one of those two persons needs to do two of the above three tasks (in two separate Discussion Board posts).
    5. Before ending the Group Chat, do the following:
      • Each Chat Group member needs to indicate ONE of the nine “How Are You Feeling at the END of Today’s Group Chat?” images. More than one Chat Group member can indicate the same image if that’s how they are feeling, and please refer to each image by its number.
      • NOTE: The “How Are You Feeling at the END of Today’s Group Chat” grid of images differs from the “How Are You Feeling at the START of Today’s Group Chat” grid of images.
      • As, a group, the Chat Group needs to arrange the date and time for the Group Chat you will need to hold during the next Unit (Unit 10: Assignment #6).
  5. All members of the Chat Group must record a typical Unit entry in your own Course Journal for Unit 9.

Congratulations, you have finished Unit 9! Onward to Unit 10!