Why taking photos can actually make your memory worse

Order Description
Purpose
Throughout this class, you have been learning to read research articles and understand the
methodology used to generate that research. In this assignment, you will put that knowledge to
use by critiquing the quality of a research study, researchers interest, independent and dependent variables and evaluating how accurately a newspaper reports the results of that study.

Assignment:
1. Read both the newspaper & academic journal article combinations below

_Experimental evidence showing that taking photos may decrease your memory of an
event:
• Why taking photos can actually make your memory worse (newspaper)
• Point-and-Shoot Memories: The Influence of Taking Photos on Memory for a
Museum Tour (journal)
USE ONLY THESE TWO REFERENCES ABOVE!!!

2. Write a brief (1-2 paragraph) summary of the research.
3. In a short essay (about 5 double spaced pages, including the summary), address the
following questions:
How well does the research study test its own hypotheses? and
How accurately does the newspaper article represent the findings of the research study?
To do this, you can use the questions below as prompts. (This essay should not be an allinclusive
critique—I prefer that you thoroughly justify a few points instead of trying to touch on
all points.) Make sure to always answer in your own words rather than quoting the original
articles.
? Did the researchers do a good job of conceptualization? Is their definition of the thing they
want to study clear? Are there important components missing from the definition? Are there
components included in the definition that shouldn’t be included? Do the researchers
sufficiently ground their hypotheses in prior research or are you uncertain how their results
fit in with the existent scientific literature?
? Did the researcher select a good methodology for testing their theory? Does it generate the
type of knowledge that tests their hypotheses?
? Do the researchers do a good job of operationalization? Do they succeed in measuring the
concept that they are interested in? Do their measures seem reliable and valid?
? Do the researchers do a good job of sampling and/or randomization? Are they justified when
they extrapolate their findings to a broader population?
? Are the results of the study valuable? Is it worth knowing the answer to the questions that
were asked? Are they worth being reported in a newspaper?
? Did the newspaper article correctly interpret the findings of the study? Did the reporter
understand the results? Did they overgeneralize (that is, make claims that were too broad
given the findings of the research study)? Was there a bias in the reporting that wasn’t
present in the original study?
? Did the newspaper article leave out things from the research study? If so, were they important for understanding the research or were they irrelevant to the story?

Final Assignment Rubric:
1. Spelling and grammar – 10 pts.
a. Paper is full of misspellings, ungrammatical or incomplete sentences – 5 pts.
b. Paper contains some misspellings, ungrammatical or incomplete sentences – 8 pts.
c. Paper is essentially free of misspellings, ungrammatical and incomplete sentences –
10 pts.
2. Describing the research design and findings – 20 pts.
a. The research design and findings are wholly incorrectly summarized. Understanding
of the hypotheses, basic design elements and results are incorrect – 10 pts.
b. The research design and findings are only partly correctly summarized. Only one
element of the hypotheses, basic design elements and results is correct – 15 pts.
c. The research design and findings are mostly correctly summarized. Only one element
of the hypotheses, basic design elements and results is incorrect. Or, there are small
errors in the description of each – 18 pts.
d. The research design and findings are fully and correctly summarized – 20 pts.
3. Analyzing and critiquing the methods – 50 pts.
a. Critique is poorly argued. Paper does not use the study’s methods to examine the
hypothesis being tested. Any aspect of the method used is incorrectly described and
insufficiently critiqued. There is no coherent argument to assess the quality of the
research – 25 pts.
b. Critique is somewhat well argued. Paper uses at least one of the study’s methods to
examine the hypothesis being tested. The method used is incorrectly described or
insufficiently critiqued. Critiques do not form a coherent argument assessing the
quality of the research – 35 pts.
c. Critique is somewhat well argued. Paper uses at least one of the study’s methods to
examine the hypothesis being tested. The method used may be incorrectly described
or insufficiently critiqued. Critiques form a coherent argument assessing the quality
of the research – 40 pts.
d. Critique is mostly well argued. Paper uses the study’s methods to examine the
hypothesis being tested. Some of the aspects of the method used are incorrectly
described or insufficiently critiqued. Critiques form a coherent argument assessing
the quality of the research – 45 pts.
e. Critique is well argued. Paper uses the study’s methods to examine the hypothesis
being tested. Each aspect of the method used is correctly described and sufficiently
critiqued. Critiques form a coherent argument assessing the quality of the research –
50 pts.
4. Analyzing and critiquing the newspaper report – 20 pts.
a. The accuracy is incorrectly identified and poorly argued. Claims made in the
newspaper are not compared to findings in the research. Examples in the critique are
not supported. Critique does not form a coherent argument assessing quality of the
newspaper report – 10 pts.
b. The accuracy is somewhat correctly identified and argued. Two of the following
errors present: claims made in the newspaper are not compared to findings in the
research, examples in the critique are not supported, critique does not form a coherent
argument assessing quality of the newspaper report – 15 pts.
c. The accuracy is mostly correctly identified and argued. One of the following errors
present: claims made in the newspaper are not compared to findings in the research,
examples in the critique are not supported, critique does not form a coherent
argument assessing quality of the newspaper report – 18 pts.
d. The accuracy is correctly identified and well argued. Claims made in the newspaper
are matched to findings in the research. Examples in the critique are supported.
Critique forms a coherent argument assessing quality of the newspaper report – 20
pts.