Question

In a study of television's influence on children, researchers analyzed standardized test results and television viewing habits of 1700 children. They found that children who averaged more than 2 hours of television viewing per day when they were younger than 3 tended to score lower on measures of reading ability and short-term memory.

(a) is the study described an observational study or an experiment?
(b) is it reasonable to conclude that watching two or more hours of television is the cause of lower reading scores?

Answer 1

1. The following case is an example of observational study. Researchers monitor the impact of a hazard variable, diagnostic test, therapy, and other treatment without attempting to influence who is or is not subjected to it in unobtrusive studies. Observational studies include cohort investigations and case control investigations.

2. It is wrong to state that watching TV for more than 2 hours is the only reason for low scores. There can be a number of factors such as genetic ability to childhood uprising environment which might not be impacted by the subject population.