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Project One

Jeff Roundtree

Southern New Hampshire University

PSY 222: Research Methods in Psychology

Amanda Nicholson

August 20, 2023

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Project One

Topic: Dog ownership and cardiovascular health/disease for adults in the U.S.

1. Determine the plan’s background introduction. Include the following details:

 The title of the plan
 Summary of three relevant empirical and scholarly research studies for the plan.
Each summary should be about 150 to 250 words.

The title of this research plan is: "The Correlation Between Dog Ownership and
Cardiovascular Health and Disease for Adults in the U.S."

Krittanawong, C., Kumar, A., Wang, Z., Jneid, H., Virani, S. S., & Levine, G. N. (2020). Pet
Ownership and Cardiovascular Health in the US General Population. The
American Journal of Cardiology, 125(8), 1158–1161.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjcard.2020.01.030‌

In the study that the article refers to, of 42,038 participants, 10,905 were asked
about pet ownership, which I take to mean that these individuals were pet
owners. These pet owners had a higher hemoglobin, lower low-density
lipoprotein cholesterol, and a lower prevalence of DM, SH, and stroke. The study
found that "pet ownership is associated with a decreased prevalence of SH,"
(high blood pressure). According to these studies, pet owners seem to be
healthier or at the very least less likely to suffer from heart-related illnesses. The
study goes on to state that further studies would need to be conducted to draw
a conclusion on the effects of pet ownership with patients with cardiovascular
disease. It also appears that further study would need to be conducted on a
larger scale not to only find out if owning a pet lowers the risk of cardiovascular
disease, but also helps protect those suffering from cardiovascular disease.

Maugeri, A., Medina-Inojosa, J. R., Kunzova, S., Barchitta, M., Agodi, A., Vinciguerra, M.,
& Lopez-Jimenez, F. (2019). Dog Ownership and Cardiovascular Health: Results
From the Kardiovize 2030 Project. Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality
& Outcomes, 3(3), 268–275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocpiqo.2019.07.007‌

This particular study included 1,769 participants ranging in age from twenty-five
to sixty-four years old, with 44.3 percent of them being males and having no
history of cardiovascular disease. Other factors that were considered were CVD
risk factors, CVH metrics such as body mass index, healthy diet, physical activity,
smoking status, blood pressure, fasting glucose, and total cholesterol.
Approximately forty-two percent of the subjects owned a type of pet and of
these forty-two percent, 24.3 percent owned a dog. The participants who
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admitted to owning a dog were more likely to report physical activity, dieting,
and a blood glucose a ideal levels, smoking at a higher level. The conclusion was
that aside from the higher level of smoking, dog owners appeared to me more
likely to achieve a healthier level of physical activity and diet.

Arhant-Sudhir, K., Arhant-Sudhir, R., & Sudhir, K. (2011). Pet ownership and
cardiovascular risk reduction: Supporting evidence, conflicting data and
underlying mechanisms. Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and
Physiology, 38(11), 734–738. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1681.2011.05583.x

This study suggests that there is evidence that dog owners are more active and
have lower blood pressure, and associated heart-related medical conditions that
could lead to future problems. It also states that these individuals have a higher
rate of surviving a heart attack compared with non-pet owners. It does
acknowledge that there is conflicting data with regard to the association
between pet ownership and each of these risk factors. It also goes on to state
that the relationship is complex and can vary with demographic and social
factors. However, there is a unifying hypothesis that there is a link to improved
mood and emotional state to a decreased central and regional autonomic
activity which would result in lower blood pressure and reduced cardiac
arrhythmia. This of course is just the abstract and not the entire study and
therefore lacks more in-depth analysis into what the study discovered.

2. Develop a clear and specific research question that is relevant to the three research
studies you chose. Your response should be about 25 words.

How does owning a pet reduce the emotion and physical stress level of the owner and
how do these relate to a lower risk of heart disease?

3. Develop a clear, specific, and testable hypothesis that corresponds to your research
question. Your response should be about 25 words. Consider the following in your
hypothesis:
 Your hypothesis should be informed by the claim you are making.

Dog owners are more likely to be active and have better health than those without dogs
leading to lower risk for heart and other health risks such as emotional stress.

4. Describe aspects of sampling that you would want to consider while acquiring
participants for your study. Your response should be about 100 words.
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Participants would be adults over the age of 40 and a mix of male and female.
Participants would be screened with those who have dogs and those who do not, who
have been diagnosed with a type of cardiovascular disease and those who have not and
are in perfect health. This would create four groups which would help the study cross
results between them to give a more accurate results allowing for a more in-depth
study. I would also look for subjects that align with each other in every way except for
health to create a mirror of the other. These mirrors would help the study between dog
owners and non-dog owners as well as participants with heart related diseases and
those without.

5. Select a design (experimental or correlational) for your proposed study that aligns with
the research question and hypothesis. Your response should be about 100 words.
Include the following details:
 Explain why you selected this design.
 Identify conceptual variables that align with the research question and
hypothesis.

This design is observational. The reason for it being observational is that all participants
would go through lab testing, which would be analyzed and determining data would be
created from the results. The concept behind this is that dog owners would be more
active and therefore show less signs of heart disease than those that do not own dogs. It
would also show that those with dogs who have been diagnosed with cardiovascular
disease would also have a higher survival rate and better healh as a result of having a
dog.

6. Select a measure to operationally define each of your conceptual variables. Your

response should be about 100 words per variable. Include the following details:
 As you select a measure, also state whether it uses natural/laboratory
observations, surveys, objective/physiological measures, interviews, etc.
 For each variable you measure, identify its scale of measurement.

The following measures would be selected for this study to define the conceptual
variables: Dog owners without CVD, dog owners with CVD, Non-dog owners without
CVD, non-dog owners with CVD. Each participant would be sent to have blood drawn
and other appropriate testing done before the beginning of the survey to include, but
not limited to: Blood Count, Metabolic panel, Cortisol test, and cholesterol test. Each
participant then would be asked about potential stresses in their lives that could then be
compared to their mirrors. At the end of the study, labs would be done again to see if
there were any changes in their health during the study.
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7. Describe your type of analysis and the p value required to support your hypothesis. Your
response should be about 50 words.

Dog owners will have a significantly lower health risk and report higher activity and
dieting than non-dog owners. Dog owners who have been diagnosed with CVD will also
report that their health has gotten better while having a dog versus those without
having a dog.

8. Develop the plan’s discussion content. Your response should be about 250 to 350
words. Include the following details:
 What you would expect to be the main finding of your study
 How you would know if your hypothesis was supported
 The potential implications of the findings
 A possible limitation of your proposed study
 Directions for future research

I believe the findings of the study would show that dog-owners have a lower risk of
cardiovascular disease and better emotional health than those without dogs. I also
believe that those who have dogs and have been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease
will also not only report having better health since owing a dog, but their labs will also
show that they've become healthier since owning a dog versus those participants who
have been diagnosed with CVD and do not have a dog.I believe the reason for this is that
owning a dog comes with the responsibility of walking the dog, getting up to let the dog
out to use the bathroom, and the companionship of having a dog. To build on that, I
believe that having a dog would reduce stresses that could potentially cause health
issues such as cardiovascular disease. I believe that there is a link to emotional health
and heart health.The implications of this finding would show that owning a dog could
not just help your heart health but also your overall health, letting owners live a happier
and healthier life. The limitation for this study is that it would be a small batch
compared to the rest of the population and there are problems in this. This study would
not include the variable of the wealthy versus those in poverty or does it address how
active the owner is with their dog. The fact that someone owns a dog does not
necessarily relate to them being more active, and therein lies the limitation.
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References

Krittanawong, C., Kumar, A., Wang, Z., Jneid, H., Virani, S. S., & Levine, G. N. (2020). Pet

Ownership and Cardiovascular Health in the US General Population. The American

Journal of Cardiology, 125(8), 1158–1161.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjcard.2020.01.030‌

Maugeri, A., Medina-Inojosa, J. R., Kunzova, S., Barchitta, M., Agodi, A., Vinciguerra, M., &

Lopez-Jimenez, F. (2019). Dog Ownership and Cardiovascular Health: Results From the

Kardiovize 2030 Project. Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality &

Outcomes, 3(3), 268–275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocpiqo.2019.07.007‌

Arhant-Sudhir, K., Arhant-Sudhir, R., & Sudhir, K. (2011). Pet ownership and cardiovascular risk

reduction: Supporting evidence, conflicting data and underlying mechanisms. Clinical

and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology, 38(11), 734–738.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1681.2011.05583.x