Do College Students Notice Errors in Evidence When Critically Evaluating Research Findings?
Abstract
The authors examined college students' ability to critically evaluate scientific evidence, specifically, whether first- and second-year students noticed when poor interpretations were drawn from research evidence. Fifty students evaluated a set of eight psychological studies, first in an informal context, then again in a critical-thinking context. Half of the studies drew poor interpretations of the results-specifically, over-interpreting findings with small effects and inferring causal conclusions from correlational findings. Across both contexts, students noticed when studies over-interpreted small effects, but they were not able to notice when studies contained correlation-not-causation errors. Activities for helping students identify interpretive errors are suggested.
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