Problem
You read an journal article in which the author states in the title that Social but not happy: Increased social media use predicts lower happiness scores in U.S. teens. In the study, a group of high school students were asked in a survey how happy they were and how many times a day they checked their social media accounts (social media use). The results found a -0.76 correlation between social media use and happiness. In discussing this article with your friend Rami, he exclaims, "I knew it! I have always said that Instagram is the cause of all my unhappiness!"
i. Why is this article making an association claim instead of a causal claim (discuss both the title and the description of the study methods)?
ii. Discuss the reasons your friend Rami is incorrect in his interpretation of the study (include the 3 criteria for making a causal claim).
iii. Explain how you could convert this study into an experiment and why converting this study to an experiment changes the type of claim the researcher can make.