Question

As part of an "internet cat videos/photos" study, Dr. Jessica Gall Myrick posted an on-line survey to Facebook and Twitter asking a series of questions regarding how individuals felt before and after the last time they watched a cat video on the Internet.¹ One of the goals of the study was to determine how watching cat videos affects an individual's energy and emotional state. People were asked to share the link, and everyone who clicked the link and completed the survey was included in the sample. More than 6000 individuals completed the survey. Overall, participants reported that after watching a cat video they had significantly more energy, fewer negative emotions, and more positive emotions. Can we conclude from this study that watching cat videos increases energy and improves emotional state?

A) Yes

B) No

Answer 1

Apparently it may seem that yes, watching cat videos do improve emotional state and increases the energy of the viewer. Since, the internet contains a heterogeneous mix of people, with different tastes, likings and preferences, once we make an online survey in platforms like Twitter and Facebook, we get the opinion of a large set of individuals. In this case the number of people completing the survey is significantly large(6000) and therefore conclusions based o this data can be reliable.

However, we do not have any idea of the method in which data was collected, whether statistical regularity was maintained while collecting the sample and whether the correct statistics and the correct tests were performed to obtain the results. Until we know that , we cannot say for sure whether watching cat videos do increase energy and improve emotional state.