06 Analytic system responses to news – Assignment

For this assignment, complete and submit the exercises below.

Assignment due before: 11.59pm, Tuesday, 15 September, 2020.

1 Submitting Tutorial Assignments 2.4 Question 2

Unless otherwise noted, each week you will submit your tu- Find something you have seen on social media that makes
torial assignment answers to an online Google form. a strong claim without any real supporting evidence (e.g.,
Sweden is the rape capital of the world). Briefly indicate
However, please write your answers into a document before what kind of evidence could support the claim – and what
you submit them via the form. This will provide you with a kind of evidence could weaken the claim. Please also include
backup if anything goes wrong with your submission – and a screenshot of the relevant story or a link to the story.
you should use that document as the basis for your contri-
butions during the tutorial session discussions. 2.5 Question 3
This week, please submit your answers to this online Google Find something you have seen on social media that makes
form. a strong claim but seems to be based on the small sam-
ple size error. Briefly indicate why it is an example of the
2 Exercises small sample size error – and how the support for the claim
would likely vanish if the sample size was an appropriate
These exercises are based on the Analytical Responses read- size. Please also include a screenshot of the relevant story
ing. or a link to the story.
Once you have written all your answers into a text document,
go to the Google Form for this Assignment and paste in your
2.6 Question 04
answers for each exercise. Find something you have seen on social media that makes
a strong claim but which is unscientific because the claim
2.1 Question 1a cannot be falsified. Briefly indicate why the claim cannot
The following headline has a newsworthy number: World’s be falsified. Please also include a screenshot of the relevant
first malaria vaccine launched. Indicate whether or not you story or a link to the story.
agree with the following statement and briefly justify your
answer: if a friend forwards you a story and says it is from
The Straits Times, then you can trust that the numbers in
the story have been verified if you trust that The Straits
Times verifies the numbers in stories that it publishes.

2.2 Question 1b
The following headline has a newsworthy number: World’s
first malaria vaccine launched. Indicate whether or not you
agree with the following statement and briefly justify your
answer: if a number in a headline is factually correct, then
it can not be misleading.

2.3 Question 1c
The following headline has a newsworthy number: World’s
first malaria vaccine launched. Indicate whether or not you
agree with the following statement and briefly justify your
answer: if a government agency is the original reporting
source for a story, then you can automatically be confident
that numbers in the story have been verified.