Question: Developing an Experiment

The purpose of this assignment is for you to evaluate findings from a correlational study, and come up with a way to experimentally test the findings of that correlational study. You will use the information below to write your paper (based on the findings of Jackson et al.,2012):

Jackson et al. (2012) designed a study exploringwhether increased video game use is associated with increased creativity. Participants were 491 children, average age 12.34 years old. Participants were recruited from 20 middle schools geographically distributed in the southern lower peninsula of Michigan, and from Detroit. About half (53%) of the participants were female, 34% were African American and 66% were Caucasian American. In one section of the study, the children indicated the extent of their video game use on a 7-point scale where 1 = not at all, 2 = about once a month, 3 = a few times a month, 4 = a few times a week, 5 = everyday, but for less than 1 h, 6 = everyday, for 1-3 h, and 7 = everyday, for more than 3 h. In another section of the study, the children completed the Torrance Test of Creativity in which the children were presented with a series of simple shapes on a piece of paper. For each shape, they were asked to try to draw a picture or object that included the shape as part of it. The children were instructed to try and draw interesting pictures that no one else would think of. Children's responses to the task were coded by six trained raters. Each drawing was coded on overall creativity (1 = not at all creative, 2 = creative, 3 = very creative), and each child's mean creativity score was computed. The inter-rater reliability between the coders was very good. Jackson et al. found that frequency of children's video game use was positively correlated with their creativity scores (r = .59). The authors suggest that playing video games may contribute to creativity.

Part 1: Answer the following questions:

1. How well do you think this relationship generalizes to the U.S. population? Why or why not?

2. How did Jackson et al. (2012) operationalize the variables "video game use",and "creativity"?

3. Address whether these findings meet the three rules for causal claims: Covariance? Temporal precedence? Internal validity?

Are the authors in a position to make the causal claim that playing video games makes you more creative?

Part 2: Come up with your own idea for an experiment to test the question of whether playing video games enhances creativity. For this portion, it may be helpful to consult Morling, pages 492-494, and the example articles on blackboard.

1. Identify the independent variable. How will you manipulate your independent variable? How many levels will choose to have for your independent variable?

2. Identify the dependent variable. How will you measure your dependent variable?

3. What experimental design will you use to test the hypothesis? Would your design be anindependent-groups design or a within-groups design?

If your design is independent-groups: would it be posttest-only, or pretest/posttest? How will people be assigned to conditions?

If your design is within-groups: what will be the order of conditions?

4. Describe the general outline of the experiment. For example, who will your participants be? Where will you conduct the experiment?What will participants be told about the purpose of the experiment? What will be the tasks that participants complete in the different conditions?What control variables would you include in your design (i.e., what factors would you aim to hold constant)? Provide as much detail as possible.

5. How would your design choices address threats to internal validity?
Selection effects? Design confounds? Order effects?

6. State your predictions using your specific operational definitions of the independent and dependent variable. What pattern of results would support your predictions?

Your assignment should be submitted in the form of an essay that addresses all of the points above. Your essay should be 3-4 double-spaced pages in length, with 12 point font and standard 1-inch margins.