The Night Light... (8-9)
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Let’s look back at the night-light study:
1 - If you use night lights, you are more likely to grow up and have bad eyesight.
2 - Therefore night lights cause bad eye sight.
Their hypothesis was wrong because there was an entirely different cause. It was actually all genetics. Parents who can’t see very well tend to use night lights in their children’s rooms because it helps them see. Also, parents who can’t see very well tend to have children who will grow up and can’t see very well, because of genetics.
If we compare it to the ice cream/sunscreen example from earlier, it looks very similar. Just replace ice cream and sunscreen with night lights, and the sun with parents.
Ice cream causes people to buy sunscreen
1 - When people buy ice cream, the sales of sunscreen go up.
2 - Therefore eating ice cream causes people to buy sunscreen.
The real cause is that the sun makes people buy ice cream and sunscreen
Night lights cause children to have bad eye-sight
1 - When children use night lights, they tend to grow up and have bad eyesight.
2 - Therefore night lights cause bad eye-sight.
The real cause is that parents that have bad eyesight have children that have bad eyesight. Since they can’t see very well, they also tend to buy night lights.
This is so hard! How do I ever know anything?
This might all seem very complicated. It might even seem like you can’t ever know anything for sure. This is why the scientific method is important, and the CRAAP test is important. Think about your hypothesis carefully! Remember - it’s okay to be wrong, but remember to keep testing, keep questioning, and don’t believe everything you read!
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