OverviewThe goal of this assignment is for you to examine the accuracy of media reports on relationship research published within the last year. As you may have noticed, stories on relationship research have become more common in popular media in the last several years. Still, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the research has been portrayed accurately. In this assignment, you will determine for yourself whether a news story that you select has accurately portrayed the original research.
DirectionsFind one story from a media outlet (such as CNN, Time, Psychology Today, or a major newspaper). A Google News search with the keywords relationship research might be one place to start (along with any additional keywords of interest).When you look at a news story, don’t get too attached to it yet. You’ll first need to check a few things to ensure it’s appropriate.
It must report research findings from a journal article that has been published within the past 2 years.
Avoid news stories that spend most of the story giving advice or the journalist’s opinions. Instead, use news stories that focus mostly on reporting what the researchers did and what they found from the journal article that you are using.
Find the journal article that originally reported the research. The journal article will either be cited (or mentioned, or linked to) in the media outlet’s news story. If the news story cites more than one journal article, pick only one to focus on.This journal article must be listed in PsycInfo. This will ensure that it is a genuine journal article, and that you will be able to access the full article.
Download the full journal article to read.
Your paper should include the following things:An introductory paragraph that introduces your topic (5 points)
A summary of the media story, including a link to the source (5 points)
A summary of the journal article (10 points)Describe the logic behind the research, how the study was conducted, the research results, and the authors’ interpretation of the results.
It’s not necessary to give minor details like the specific sample size, or the university where the research was done. Focus mostly on the issues listed in the previous bullet point.
A comparison of the media story’s interpretation of the research versus the original article’s findings (20 points)Did the news story present the study fully and fairly? Did they overgeneralize from the demographics of the sample in the original article? Did they draw unwarranted conclusions from the research? (For example, did they draw cause-and-effect conclusions when reporting on a correlational study?)
In general, you should describe whether you think the news story reported the research’s findings and conclusions accurately, and explain why (or why not). Give specific examples to support your case.
A concluding paragraph with your thoughts about the accuracy of media reports on research, in general (10 points)For example, when do you think media reports about research are more accurate or trustworthy, and when are they not?
Tip: Before you get too far into this assignment, make sure you take a look at the journal article and have a basic understanding of what the researchers did, what the research found, and any conclusions the authors of the journal article drew. To do well on this assignment, it’s important that you understand the original article, so avoid journal articles that are particularly long or complicated, or that you have a hard time understanding. If the journal article is difficult to follow like this, look for a different news story and journal article.
Your paper should be double-spaced, written in 12-point Times New Roman font, and follow APA style guidelines (including a title page and a references page). For information about these guidelines, see the instructions from Paper #1, and the guidelines I posted for it. You do not need to cite the news report at the end, as long as you provide the link in your paragraphs.
Finally, please do NOT quote directly from the news story, journal article, or from any other source—put everything in your own words. Using the authors’ terminology is okay, but do not quote more than 3 consecutive words from any source.