Pop Question!

[alexmegami]

The assignment says:

"Newspaper articles published in the New York Times and the Globe & Mail described research that calls into question the concept of bisexuality. You are to read the original pieces of research (and any other relevant studies) and assess whether or not the newspaper articles present an accurate or biased picture of the academic research around this issue for the general public."

Do you:

a) Read the articles and the research, assess what each are saying, and point out where simplifications or overstatements have occured in the newspaper articles?
b) Evaluate the research, and state that the research was not valid in the first place, thus negating the need for the articles outright?
c) Compare and contrast the newspaper articles, and then compare and contrast their persuasiveness with the persuasiveness of the research?

Comments

[doomedmessenger.livejournal.com]

I'd do the first one. It can be quite likely they're oversimplifying some small detail research might have brought up.

[alexmegami]

Yeah.

So why is something like 60% of our mark based on option C?

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

The first one seems to be closest to what the assignment is looking for, but I'd be tempted to go with #2. Mostly based on personal experience.

"no such thing as bisexuality" my ass...*grumble*

[alexmegami]

And yet...

#3. a) is present in one of the points we were graded on, but a full 20% was devoted to comparing the articles to one another, and another 30% or so was for which account (popular or scientific) is more convincing and why.

[musesshadow.livejournal.com]

I remember reading that article. The research was published by a guy who lost his license to do so due to poor research practices, and the premiss of the research was crap.

I think a combination of the above options would present the strongest case. Each sort of leads to the credibility and persuasiveness of the next...

[(Anonymous)]

Probably, but the assignment doesn't call for (c) (and in three pages, it would be difficult to effectively do all of them).

[alexmegami]

And that was me...

[roju.livejournal.com]

Yeah the assignment spec definately calls for (a).

[alexmegami]

That's what I thought, too.

Time to e-mail the TA...

[(Anonymous)]

"Newspaper articles published in the New York Times and the Globe & Mail described research that calls into question the concept of bisexuality. You are to read the original pieces of research (and any other relevant studies) and assess whether or not the newspaper articles present an accurate or biased picture of the academic research around this issue for the general public."

I would say C because of the sentence "assess whether or not the newspaper articles present an accurate or biased picture of the academic research around this issue for the general public."

It seems to specifically be asking you to compare the articles to the research and demonstrate how they are or are not reflective of the research done in the study.

[(Anonymous)]

"Newspaper articles published in the New York Times and the Globe & Mail described research that calls into question the concept of bisexuality. You are to read the original pieces of research (and any other relevant studies) and assess whether or not the newspaper articles present an accurate or biased picture of the academic research around this issue for the general public."

I would say C because of the sentence "assess whether or not the newspaper articles present an accurate or biased picture of the academic research around this issue for the general public."

It seems to specifically be asking you to compare the articles to the research and demonstrate how they are or are not reflective of the research done in the study.

-whoops - this is Pete

[alexmegami]

That would be A, though: assess whether or not the newspapers accurately reflect the research. It isn't asking us to assess whether or not the research presents a persuasive argument to the general public, which C does.

Basically, the syllabus said: "Tell us how well A reported on B." C asks for "How persuasive are A and B? Which is more persuasive and why?"