Comparison of the Effects of Malnutrition and Socio-Economic Issues

1. Why did the researchers conduct this study?

The researchers conducted the study to determine the extent to which malnourishment hinders brain growth and maturation among children under the age of 2 years in comparison to other socioeconomic issues.

What did the researchers hypothesize?

The researchers hypothesized that a combination of malnutrition and absence of environmental resources hinders normal mental development in newborns. Besides, use of certain environmental resources in regions where they are inadequate and prone to deter mental growth promotes normal mental growth and development among starving infants.

What was/were the independent variables in the study?

Independent variable was group 3, “well-nourished”. This constituted 70 plus 24 (8) of which were randomly distributed into the 3 groups.

How was/were the dependent variable(s) operationally defined in the study?

Dependent variable was group 1 “malnourished” children and group 2 “moderately malnourished” children.

Why did the researchers only include girls in their study?

Girls were the only sex included in the research so as to eliminate incidences of varied result due to sex differences. Secondly, the number of girls in the agency was far bigger than that of boys, and therefore it was assumed to represent the population at the agency. 

What was the main finding of the study? Provide the statistically significant result(s) that support the main finding.

Generally, malnourished Korean children brought up in the US agency and supplied with adequate resources eventually outshone their counterparts in Korea in terms of changes in weight, height, IQ, and achievement scores.

In your own words, what explanation do the researchers offer with regards to their findings involving IQ? Do you agree with this explanation? Why or why not?

IQ results showed statistical significance to occur only between group 1 and 3. Such a result is attributed to geographical differences given that Korean and American children are born and brought up in two varied ecological settings. I tend to agree with the researchers’ explanations of the IQ test results. This is based on the understanding that individual IQ test results often depend on the environment on gene, environmental, and covariance levels. This implies that a malnourished child will require slightly longer time to adapt to new status such as the one available at US agency.

In your opinion, what was a limitation of the research methodology used in the study? Explain. (Note: We are asking for an issue or issues with the experimental design and or methodology [how the study was conducted] NOT a problem with how the article was written or an ethical issue). Here is a tip: did they have a proper control group?

First of all, the study involved only females and assumed them to represent the entire malnourished Korean children under the age of 2. The second limitation of the research was the use of groups with varied characteristics as dependent variable; namely, “malnourished” and “moderately malnourished” groups. Such variation made it hard to obtain a conclusive evidence of the effect of malnourishment on children.

At the end of the article, the researchers suggest that future studies should be conducted with children adopted at an older age. What other future research idea would you suggest? Be sure to state why you think your research idea would be important.

A future research should be conducted with Korean orphans adopted before the age of two and later sent back into their original malnourished homes after the age of 2 years. This research idea will help justify if retarded brain growth is only caused by malnourishment during the first two years.  

Bonus Section (2 marks)

First, the references used in the article are footnotes and therefore must have followed Chicago style.

Secondly, the reference section constitutes all sources that were consulted by the author and might not imply that all the reference have been used in writing the article which is yet to be reviewed electronically.