A psychologist investigated the relationship between the weekly hours spent on social media apps and subjective sleep quality in a sample of young adults.
The researcher obtained an opportunity sample of 10 college students, aged 18 to 20 years. Each student provided self-report data about the number of hours they spent using social media apps on their phone over a period of one week. Students were asked to exclude any time spent on social media for academic or employment purposes.
Each student also completed an online sleep assessment which provided a standardized Sleep Quality Index score. The index was scored out of 100, where a low score indicated poor sleep quality and a high score indicated excellent sleep quality.
The raw data collected in the study are shown in Table 1 below.
Table 1 The weekly hours spent on social media apps and the Sleep Quality Index scores of 10 students
| Student | Weekly hours spent on social media | Sleep Quality Index score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 35 | 30 |
| 2 | 42 | 25 |
| 3 | 10 | 85 |
| 4 | 48 | 15 |
| 5 | 50 | 20 |
| 6 | 18 | 78 |
| 7 | 5 | 92 |
| 8 | 28 | 55 |
| 9 | 30 | 40 |
| 10 | 25 | 60 |
Using your knowledge of research methods, explain why it would be inappropriate for the psychologist to conclude that spending more time on social media apps causes poorer sleep quality.
Practise AQA A Level Psychology Correlations with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 30 questions, matched to the AQA A Level Psychology (7182) specification and written in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.