Question

This deals with a research study called the Hippocrates’ Good News Survey. The survey found that people who often ate Frosted Flakes as children had half the cancer rate of those who never ate the cereal. Conversely, those who often ate oatmeal as children were four times more likely to develop cancer than those who did not. Does this mean that Frosted Flakes prevents cancer while oatmeal causes it? Respond to the following questions: 1. What type of study was this (pick from case study, correlational study, and experimental study), and what did they not take into account when looking at these findings? 2. Can you think of anything else that can explain these major differences between the two groups?

Answer 1

• It would be a correlation study.Hippocrates’ delightful Good News Survey (GNS) was designed to illustrate errors that can be hidden in seemingly sound scientific studies. Cancer tends to be a disease of later life. Those who ate Frosted Flakes are younger. In fact, the cereal was not around when older respondents were children, and so they are much more likely to have eaten oatmeal. They ignored the effects in older adults.
• The GNS revealed that people who had had routine physicals in the previous 3 years were twice as likely to report high blood pressure and cholesterol levels.  
• The GNS finding that children who took vitamins were more than twice as likely to go on to use marijuana and cocaine was also likely due to these respondents being younger than average.