Exercising Research Literacy: Examining Ecological Fallacy and Testing for Spuriousness

Abstract

American Library Association defines information literacy as "a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information." Similarly, we can discuss a concept of research literacy in terms of our competencies to understand research findings through...

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Details

Subject Area(s):

Research Methods

Resource Type(s):

Assignment

Class Level(s):

College 300

Class Size(s):

Any

Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

1. To understand the concept of unit of analysis and apply the concept to analyze ecological fallacy.
2. To conduct tabular analysis with quantitative data.
3. To familiarize with the elaboration model using a simplified example.

Goal Assessment(s):

1. Whether or not students can differentiate a correlation at the aggregate level and a correlation at the individual level in a relatively short assignment.
2. Whether or not students can construct a 2 X 2 table with appropriate labels for independent and dependent variables, fill in the cells based on the sample quantitative data provided, read the table, and interpret the results correctly in an assignment.
3. Whether or not students can conduct appropriate tabular analysis to test for spuriousness of a claimed causal relationship and a hypothesis with three variables in an assignment.