Demos and videos
1.
(4 pts). The money game. Which of the following options apply to
the "money game" that used strips of paper? (MTF)
A)
A conflict existed
between individual and group (class) benefit.
B)
The conflict depended on
the rules of the game. A different
set of rules could have eliminated the conflict.
C)
The outcome (this year
and in previous years) was that the self-interests of many students prevented
anyone from receiving any money.
D)
The choice that every
individual could make which allowed group benefit was the $1 option.
E)
The theme illustrated
was that conflict arises when people obtain different data.
2. (5 pts).
Consider the coin flip demonstration. What was the purpose of this demonstration, what parallels
apply, and what were the details of this demonstration? (MTF)
(A) The demonstration illustrated a way to bias an overall
study by using initial results to decide which individual studies to complete
and publish.
(B) Conflict was essential to the outcome. Without conflict, there would have been
no basis for the result.
(C) The demonstration relied on the existence of sampling
error. If no sampling error was
present, the desired effect could not have been demonstrated.
(D) The demonstration illustrated a type of bias that
would usually occur at the end of the study, after all data had been obtained.
3. (5 pts) Mark all statements that correctly summarize the
information shown in the second part of Prisoners of Silence video and the
update on Facilitated Communication from Monday. MTF
A) Several parents were unwilling to accept the evidence
against FC. Some used anecdotes to
support their belief in FC.
B) Douglas Biklen responded to the data showing that
facilitated communication does not work by stating that many autistic
individuals exhibit severe word-finding difficulties, and that this is the
reason they did not perform well in the experimental tests. This is an example
of the use of post hoc arguments (as a form of bias).
C) A current search of the web reveals that Syracuse
University still maintains an
Institute for FC.
D) Biklen used a form of refusal to admit error in justifying FC against the negative test results
when claiming that it didn’t matter how many tests failed to show
communication.
E) As discussed in class, the experiments that
purportedly debunked facilitated communication were flawed because they were
designed to allow for the possibility that facilitated communication is not
effective (they used the wrong null model).
How our brains mislead us
4. (6 pts)
The brief chapter and lecture on this topic listed several ways in which
our brains automatically think and make decisions that are not “rational” under
the scientific method. Which of
the following options are from that list or illustrate a point on that
list? MTF
A)
We respond to perceived
risks rather than actual risks
B)
Choosing goals in our
own interest, regardless of whether they benefit others
C)
Searching for
confirmation of our beliefs rather than seeking the truth.
D)
Responding to
correlations as if they are causal
E)
Memory reconstruction.
F)
The corpus callosum
connects the two halves of the brain and prevents one side from making
decisions independent of the other side.
G)
We learn by trial and
error.
H)
Our educational system
has taught us facts instead of problem-solving skills.
5. (4 pts) One limitation of our ability to make rational
decisions was described as an automatic response to emotional factors, even if
at odds with evidence to the contrary.
Which of the following constitute examples of this phenomenon or depend
on our automatic response to emotional factors?
A) Witch crazes
|
B) Scams
|
C) Urban legends
|
D) Optical illusions
|
6. (5 pts) Besides sexual preference, in what contexts has the
question of “biological determinism” been directly relevant to social practises
(as noted in class)? MTF
A)
Race and IQ
B)
Fenimism (women’s “lib”)
C)
Forced sterilization of
people deemed of low intelligence or of other mental “inferiority”
D)
Diabetes
E)
Susceptibility to
infectious dieases
F)
None of the above
7.
(5 pts) With respect to the study by
Simon LeVay, (MTF)
A)
The topic was relevant
to 2 major class themes: (i)
Humans make difficult subjects, and (ii) time lags slow progress (because of
the long time it takes HIV to kill a person)
B)
In lecture, the anterior
hypothalamus was shown to lie on the surface of the brain
C)
The goal was to
determine if gay vs. heterosexual males had detectable differences in brain
anatomy
D)
The result of the study
was that no detectable differences were found between gay and heterosexual
males for most of the brain anatomy regions studied (the “nuclei”), but
a difference was found in one region.
E)
It was known in advance
that the anterior hypothalamus was a region involved in sexual preference based
in part on studies of rodents.
Intrinsic Difficulties
8-13. (3 pts each) These questions ask for the course theme(s)
illustrated by the given statement. Do not assume any more than what is
explicitly given in the question, except
that in 9 you must use the information about clinical trails given in class
Monday. That is, address only the difficulties specifically mentioned. There are fewer options here than on
some practice questions. (One or two answers only)
(A) Rare events are difficult to quantify |
(B) Time lags slow progress |
(C) Complexity (interactions) |
(D) Humans make difficult experimental subjects |
(E) None |
8. The
following is a verbatim quote from a FRONTLINE press release for the show
“Dangerous Prescription” aired 13 November, 2003 (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/press/2204.html). Which, if any, intrinsic difficulty is
described in this quote?
"When a drug goes on the market, only about 3,000
patients have ever been given that drug," says Woosley, who directs a
national center that studies drug side effects. "We will never know all
the toxicity that can occur, especially the one [patient] in 10,000 or one in
20,000 that could be seriously harmed. Our detection will only happen after the
drug is on the market and exposed to a huge number of patients."
(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)
9.
The following quote (from USA Today, 23 Nov 04) describes
some problems encountered with a statin drug that had been FDA approved and was
later withdrawn (Baycol).
“Patients who took Lipitor, Pravachol or Zocor
[statins] had similar, low rates of hospitalizations for [the muscle disorder]
rhabdomyolysis – an average of one out of every 20,000 patients per year. Among those who also took a fibrate,
another cholesterol-lowering drug, the rhabdomyolysis hospitalization rate was
about 12 out of every 20,000 patients per hear.
Among patients who took only Baycol for their
cholesterol, more than 10 out of every 20,000 were hospitalized each year with
the muscle disorder. But the rate
soared to 2,070 per 20,000 – or one in 10 – per year among those who took a
fibrate as well as Baycol.”
The two questions for you to answer are
(i) what type of intrinsic difficulty is indicated by the higher rate of
problems caused when a fibrate is taken with Baycol than with other statins,
and (ii) which intrinsic difficulty explains why the higher rate of
hospitalization with Baycol alone than with the other statins alone would not
have been detected in clinical trials.
If you think that only one of these two problems stems from an
“intrinsic difficulty,” you should fill in only one answer. (Use “none” only if neither problem is
an intrinsic difficulty.)
(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)
10.
The flash powder demonstration was an
illustration of which “difficulty”?
(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)
11. Which intrinsic difficulty explains why the procedures to conduct
clinical trials and gain FDA approval for food additives or drugs is vastly
more expensive and lengthy than the procedures required to conduct research on
mice? (A)
(B) (C) (D) (E)
12. The greater difficulty in adjusting a shower temperature to the proper
level than in adjusting the radio volume to the proper level was given an
example of which difficulty?
(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)
13. Which type of difficulty
is illustrated by the unwillingness of parents to accept the results from FC
experiments (in the second part of the FC video)? (A) (B) (C) (D) (E)
14. (6 pts) Which of the following options describe an outcome
that stems from a "tragedy of the commons" conflict? (MTF)
A) Students at the University of Bob Allen are given
control of grades. Each student
performs a self-evaluation for each course, which determines their grade in
that course. The first students to
graduate with this system have high GPAs because of their generous
self-evaluations, and their transcripts help them find good jobs. Students in
subsequent years continue to give themselves good grades, and as word of this
system gets out, employers across the country downgrade the value of a degree
from that university so much that it becomes almost worthless in finding jobs.
B) People often litter public parks and roads, simply
because it seems that their little bit of litter won't make much of a
difference to the appearance of the road/park, and it gets the litter out of
their hands. When magnified over many people, the environment becomes trashy
from this type of behavior.
C) In colonial days, a "common" was a communal
grazing area for landowners in the town. The "tragedy " refers to the
fact that these commons were ultimately bought up and developed by private
interest groups for profit without benefiting the local community.
D) In a democracy, elections are held to choose
representatives to run the government.
Not everyone chooses to vote, however. The willful failure to vote violates the principle of
democracy, and as such, manifests itself as a conflict against the good of
society.
15.
(2 pts) Fill in option (A) if it is true.
(A) Vaccines cause us to develop immunity
against particular toxins, viruses, or bacteria. Some diseases for which we have vaccines, such as tetanus,
are caused by bacteria that come from the soil and are not transmitted from
person to person. The number of
people exposed to the tetanus bacterium thus is not affected by how many people
get vaccinated. People who, for
their own personal reasons, refuse to get vaccinated for tetanus thus pose no
increased risk of tetanus for others in the population. Thus, for these
diseases, there is no tragedy of the commons conflict.
16.
(4pts) Which of the following options
about conflicting goals are correct? (MTF)
(A) Conflict between a buyer and a seller is an example of
goals differing in material gain.
(B) In the criminal court system, the conflict between
prosecution and defense stems from differences in ideology/philosophy.
(C) Parents of autistic children who accepted FC despite
evidence against it were apparently influenced by emotional factors.
(D) Physician’s rejection of Semmelweis’s discovery of the
cause of high mortality rates in maternity wards was considered an example of
emotional factors overriding a search for truth.
17. (4 pts) Which of the following applied to conflict in a
criminal trial? MTF
A) Conflict between the prosecution and defense exists by
constitutional definition.
B) Scientists accept ambiguity/uncertainty as part of the
nature of evidence. A trial does
not, for the most part, allow ambiguity/uncertainty as an outcome -- a decision
has to be made about guilt or innocence, regardless of whether the evidence is
ambiguous.
C) The parties involved in conflict are not necessarily
just the defense and prosecution but may include experts and the lab providing
analysis of the forensic samples.
D) The conflict between defense and prosecution in a
trial represent one type of “tragedy of the commons,” because a fair trial is
in the interest of society.
Deliberate Bias
18. (5 pts) Which of the
following constitute possible bias in evaluation rather than at other
stages of the process? MTF
(A) Searching for a statistical test to support the
desired conclusion
(B) control the null model
(C) Appeal to authority
(D) Refusal to admit error
(E) use small samples
(F) change design in mid-course
(G) Throw out unwanted results
(H) post hoc
analysis of the data
19.
(5 pts) Mark all of the following
statements that are correct about deliberate bias, as covered in lecture or the
Notes (MTF):
(A) Drug companies have encouraged physicians to prescribe
their products with such incentives as free lunches, gifts, and notepads and charts with company logos.
(B) Drug companies have paid for university studies of
their products and then blocked publication of unfavorable results and/or
discontinued funding if results looked bad.
(C) The published protocol for a study provides the
essential details for how the study was conducted and gives sufficient
information to detect whatever bias might be present in the design or
evaluation stages.
(D) It is possible to bias the presentation of a study
(e.g., to a jury) even if the design, conduct, and analysis were carried out in
an unbiased fashion.
(E) A major step in identifying or anticipating deliberate
bias is to identify conflicts of interest.
20. (4 pts). Which apply to "controlling the null
model?" MTF
(A) A null model is accepted until evidence actually
contradicts it. The null model –
and whatever goal it favors – thus receives the “benefit of doubt” for a wide
range of results that don’t necessarily support it, simply because those
results are not strong enough to refute it.
(B) “Controlling the null model” refers to a procedure in
which the control group for the null model is chosen in a biased fashion, hence
the word “controlling.”
(C) For FDA approval of drugs and food additives, the null
model of “harmful until proven
safe” seems to protect consumer interests.
(D) The current null model for dietary supplements in the
U.S. is “safe until proven harmful.”
21,
22. Indicate which of the following experimental
design violations apply. one
answer per question
(A)
change design in mid-course |
(C)
(true) protocol concealed |
(E)
assay for a narrow spectrum of unlikely results |
(B)
non-random assignments |
(D)
small samples |
(F)
None |
21. (3pts) Drug companies have sponsored Continuing Medical
Education classes, but invited as speakers mostly those doctors who advocate
using drugs manufactured by the sponsoring company. (A) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F)
22. (3 pts) Although the protocol of a study is written as
“blind,” participants are secretly told that the real medication is bitter but
that the placebo is sweet. The
participants are thus aware of whether they get the real medicine or placebo. (A)
(B) (C) (D) (E) (F)
23-26 (3pts each). Mark the type of nonscientific argument
(blatant bias) illustrated in each of the following examples. Base your answer
on the information given in the question. MTF
(A) Claim that all alternatives have not been
disproved |
(D) Build causation from
correlation |
(G) None |
(B) Character assassination
of opponent |
(E) Refusal to admit error |
|
(C) Draw on anecdotes or
post hoc observations |
(F) Either-or arguments |
|
23. Employment at Home Depot requires that the applicant pass a drug test. After reading the employment
conditions, Ralph Wrench submitted to a drug test and filled out the
application form. The test result
was positive for at least one illegal substance, and he was therefore not
hired. Which type(s) of
nonscientific argument underlie(s) Home Depot’s refusal to hire him? (A) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F) (G)
24. In defending their beliefs in the validity of
facilitated communication, parents shown in the video recalled incidents in
which their child responded in a way that, upon interpretation, suggested to
them that facilitated communication worked. What type of nonscientific argument
is indicated by this form of parental defense of their belief in FC? (A) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F) (G)
25. In attempting to discredit the USDA’s insistence on
the use of pesticides, a lawyer argues that pesticides are not effective
because pest levels are actually higher in agricultural fields sprayed
with pesticides than in fields not sprayed with pesticides. (A) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F) (G)
26. In the standardized field sobriety test that police give to drivers
suspected of being intoxicated, police ask the driver to perform simple
coordination tests. Then, if the coordination performance is sub-par, the
driver is asked to submit to a blood or breath test. What type of bias is
indicated in this police procedure?
(A)
(B) (C) (D) (E) (F) (G)
27. (3 pts) Key code, pad #, and name. Fill in (A B) to indicate your key for this version of the exam. Be sure your name and pad number are correctly bubbled in on the scantron and that you have signed this exam form.