Lab 1 Instructions
BSTA 512/612
Lab is ready! 1/9/2025
Directions
Please turn in your .html file on Sakai. Please let me know if you greatly prefer to submit a physical copy. We can work out another way for you to turn in the labs.
You can download the .qmd file for this lab here.
Purpose
This lab will serve as an introduction to our quarter long project.
There will be no analysis in this lab. Instead, we are building our knowledge around the research question and setting up our folder.
Grading
Each lab will follow the rubric on the Project page. Since this lab does not include coding nor analysis, this portion of the rubric is excluded.
Lab activities
1. Reading and listening activities
1.1 Article: Implicit and explicit anti-fat bias: The role of weight-related attitudes and beliefs
This article will serve as a reference point for our project. The article is meant to introduce social scientists’ approaches to research and analyses. However, the article is not meant to be a basis for which we perform our analysis.
This article discusses anti-fat bias. It uses words that may be triggering to larger-bodied people.
Please read sections 1 - 2, through 2.2 (“Procedures and measures”). Answer the following questions:
In your own words, what is anti-fat bias?
What were the three social theoretical models that the paper discusses? Which do you personally think is the biggest contributor to anti-fat bias and why?
From the following measures in section 2.2, select two and discuss why the named measure may or may not accurately represent the italicized statement taken from the IAT questionnaire. Feel free to answer this question after taking the IAT yourself.
Self-perception of weight
Thin/fat group identity
Controllability of weight
Awareness of societal standards
Internalization of societal standards
For example, for Self-perception of weight, the italicized statement is the following statement outlined in red:
Answer the above questions.
1.2 Podcast: Anti-Fat Bias by Maintenance Phase
This podcast shares the experience of one of its hosts that involves anti-fat bias. This may be triggering if you have experienced this type of bias.
This is an optional listening for this lab, but I highly encourage you listen at some point this quarter. This is a really good way to see how research can be integrated into conversation and experience.
If you decide to listen, feel free to share a quote that most impacted you.
If you decide to listen, feel free to share a quote that most impacted you.
2. Familiarizing ourselves with the Implicit Association Test (IAT)
2.1 Learn more about the test
Visit the Project Implicit site, and read about the test. What is your initial reaction to the test? What questions about the test do you have? Do you have any questions about the test’s validity? The point here is not to attempt to discredit the test itself, but see what specific questions the test can help us answer and what is outside the scope of our analysis. For example, are there any potential issues with the fact that people are self-selected to take the test? Does that mean our sample is representative of our population? Is it an issue that someone can take the test more than once?
This exercise will serve as a good starting point for the discussion section of our project report. The more effort you put in here and now, the more prepared you will be for the report.
In 5-10 bullet points, write down some of your ideas on the study design that you may want to mention.
2.2 Take the test
You will spend 15 minutes taking the IAT. You can go to the Project Implicit website, register, and select a specific test to take. Once registered, you can click “Take a Test,” read the Preliminary Information, and then click “I wish to proceed” at the bottom. Then you can click the button “Weight IAT” to take this particular test.
I will not check that you have completed this test, but it will help you understand the data you are analyzing.
Take the Weight IAT.
3. Get a sense of how you would like to analyze the data
For our project, we will examine the association betwen the IAT score and one other variable. From the above article, and the introduced variables in section 2.2, which association are you most interested in analyzing? Please write this in the form of a research question.
We will have a chance to adjust our research question once we have explored the data in Lab 2.
Write your research question
4. Organize your “Project” folder
Before downloading the data, go back to Lesson 2 and follow the file setup for our project. This includes making an .Rproj file within the main folder. Make sure you are working with the project by using the here() function to display your working directory.
Display your working directory using the here package and here() function.
5. Compile above work into an introduction
At this point, you have done a lot of the work needed to write an introduction for your poster. In 3-5 bullet points, write a description of anti-fat bias, IAT, your research question, and the context for the question.
In the next lab, we will work on a summary of the dataset (e.g. where are the data from, when were they collected, how many subjects, what are the variables, what are the exposure and outcomes variables of interest, etc.).
Write your introduction