lOMoARcPSD|3013804
Article Review and Analysis PSY
223
Stat for Psy (University of Houston)
, lOMoARcPSD|3013804
1
Running head: One hour of extra screen time drags down teenagers’ grades
Article Analysis and Review: One hour of extra screen time drags down teenagers’ grades
Summary
Kate Kelland penned the article “One hour of extra screen time drags down teenagers’
grades,“ in which she states that a prospective Cambridge University study of 800 students
between the ages of 14 and 15 scored lower in academic performance when spending an extra
hour per day watching TV, surfing the Internet, or playing computer games than those students
who did not. Kelland states that Kristin Corder, a researcher for Cambridge’s Center for Diet
and Activity Research, acknowledged that the data from the study only measured Year 10, but is
“likely to be a reliable snapshot of participants’ unusual behavior, so we can reasonably suggest
that screen time may be damaging to teenager’s grades” (Kelland, 2015). Research from the
same study determined that the more time spent studying the higher grades the students received
and academic performance was not affected by physical activity (Kelland, 2015).
Article Interpretation and Conclusions
This study is most likely correlational, because it seems very likely that the two key
variables in the study, amount of time spent on screens and grades earned were measured. In
probability theory and statistics, the mathematical concepts of covariance and correlation are
very similar (Shuttlewoth, n.d.). Both describe the degree to which two random variables or sets
of random variables tend to deviate from their expected values in similar ways. The study's
results do suggest that more screen time is associated with lower grades.
A central goal of most research is the identification of causal relationships, or
demonstrating that a particular independent variable (the cause) has an effect on the dependent
Article Review and Analysis PSY
223
Stat for Psy (University of Houston)
, lOMoARcPSD|3013804
1
Running head: One hour of extra screen time drags down teenagers’ grades
Article Analysis and Review: One hour of extra screen time drags down teenagers’ grades
Summary
Kate Kelland penned the article “One hour of extra screen time drags down teenagers’
grades,“ in which she states that a prospective Cambridge University study of 800 students
between the ages of 14 and 15 scored lower in academic performance when spending an extra
hour per day watching TV, surfing the Internet, or playing computer games than those students
who did not. Kelland states that Kristin Corder, a researcher for Cambridge’s Center for Diet
and Activity Research, acknowledged that the data from the study only measured Year 10, but is
“likely to be a reliable snapshot of participants’ unusual behavior, so we can reasonably suggest
that screen time may be damaging to teenager’s grades” (Kelland, 2015). Research from the
same study determined that the more time spent studying the higher grades the students received
and academic performance was not affected by physical activity (Kelland, 2015).
Article Interpretation and Conclusions
This study is most likely correlational, because it seems very likely that the two key
variables in the study, amount of time spent on screens and grades earned were measured. In
probability theory and statistics, the mathematical concepts of covariance and correlation are
very similar (Shuttlewoth, n.d.). Both describe the degree to which two random variables or sets
of random variables tend to deviate from their expected values in similar ways. The study's
results do suggest that more screen time is associated with lower grades.
A central goal of most research is the identification of causal relationships, or
demonstrating that a particular independent variable (the cause) has an effect on the dependent
