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Causal Claims - Hypothesis, Control, Type

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For each of the following investigations:
a) Identify the causal hypothesis at issue.
b) Identify what kind of investigation it is.
c) Describe the control and experimental groups.
d) State the difference in effect (or cause) between control and experimental
groups.
e) Identify any problems in either the investigation or the report of it, including
but not necessarily limited to uncontrolled variables.
f) State the conclusion you think is warranted by the report.

1. Scientists have learned that people who drink wine weekly or monthly are less likely to develop dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. (Daily wine drinking, however, seems to produce no protective effect.) The lead researcher was Dr. Thomas Truelsen, of the Institute of Preventive Medicine at Kommunehospitalet in Copenhagen. The researchers identified the drinking patterns of 1,709 people in Copenhagen in the 1970s and then assessed them for dementia in the 1990s, when they were aged 65 or older. When they were assessed two decades later, 83 of the participants had developed dementia. People who drank beer regularly were at an
increased risk of developing dementia. — adapted from BBC News (online)

2. Research at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia indicates that children who sleep in a dimly lighted room until age two may be up to five times more likely to develop myopia (near-sightedness) when they grow up. The researchers asked the parents of children who had been patients at
the researchers' eye clinic to recall the lighting conditions in the children's bedroom from birth to age two.
Of a total of 172 children who slept in darkness, 10 percent were near-sighted. Of a total of 232 who slept with a night light, 34 percent were near-sighted. Of a total of 75 who slept with a lamp on, 55 percent. The lead ophthalmologist, Dr. Graham E. Quinn, said that "just as the body needs to rest, this suggests that the eyes need a period of darkness." — adapted from an AP report by Joseph B. Verrengia

3. Does jogging keep you healthy? Two independent researchers interested in whether exercise prevents colds interviewed twenty volunteers about the frequency with which they caught colds. The volunteers, none of whom exercised regularly, were then divided into two groups of ten, and one group participated in a six-month
regimen of jogging three miles every other day. At the end of the six months, the frequency of colds among the joggers was compared both with that of the nonjoggers and with that of the joggers prior to the experiment. It was found that,compared with the non-joggers, the joggers had 25 percent fewer colds. The record
of colds among the joggers also declined in comparison with their own record prior tothe exercise program.

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Solution Summary

The solution provides information, assistance and advise in tackling the task on the topic of reviewing passages about studies and determining cause-effect relationships between groups as well as hypothesis and probable conclusions.

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Hi and thank you for using Brainmass. In this particular task, you are asking for help in putting together answers for the task of identifying causal elements in passages. All the best with your studies.

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AE 105878/Xenia Jones
Causal Claims Q&A

1. Scientists have learned that people who drink wine weekly or monthly are less likely to develop dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. (Daily wine drinking, however, seems to produce no protective effect.) The lead researcher was Dr. Thomas Truelsen, of the Institute of Preventive Medicine at Kommunehospitalet in Copenhagen. The researchers identified the drinking patterns of 1,709 people in Copenhagen in the 1970s and then assessed them for dementia in the 1990s, when they were aged 65 or older. When they were assessed two decades later, 83 of the participants had developed dementia. People who drank beer regularly were at an
increased risk of developing dementia. — adapted from BBC News (online)

a) Identify the causal hypothesis at issue.
- The causal hypothesis asserts that people who drink wine weekly/monthly are less likely to develop dementia as well as Alzheimer's.
b) Identify what kind of investigation it is.
-It appears to be a comparative investigation as there is a hypothesis, there are variables but there isn't any control group in that data has just been collected over time with effects compared accordingly.
c) Describe the control and experimental groups.
- This appears to be a longitudinal study thus there are no control group but rather a selected group over a longitudinal experimental observation.
d) State the difference in effect (or cause) between control and experimental
groups.
-There is no control group per se other than that which is available about ...

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