"Busting the Nursery Rhymes" reports that "Research from a team at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children [in England] found that there's more violence in traditional nursery rhymes than in early-evening television." The study reported "that there were more than 52 violent scenes per each hour spent listening to 25 of the most popular nursery rhymes-or more than 10 times the five violent scenes witnessed per each hour of TV viewing. [. . .] Authors of the study admitted their research was done slightly tongue-in-cheek. But they also said they hoped to make the important assertion that parents worried about bad behavior shouldn't only point fingers at television. After all, there's Jack and Jill's hill-climbing tragedies and Rock-a-Bye-Baby's tale of a newborn tumbling out of a tree to consider. Other disturbing examples included Humpty Dumpty's fall off the wall and Simple Simon's pricking of his finger."33
a. Certainly a mean of 52 is dramatically higher than a mean of 5. However, is the response of interest-number of violent scenes-really measuring the same thing for the two groups being compared (nursery rhymes and TV)? Discuss.
b. Suppose nursery rhymes are not harmful to children, but parents read about this study and substitute TV for bedtime reading of nursery rhymes. What are the potential harmful consequences of this mistake?
c. Suppose nursery rhymes are harmful to children, but parents conclude they are fine and expose their children to violent rhymes on a regular basis. What are the potential harmful consequences of this mistake?
d. Which mistake would you personally prefer to avoid: the one described in part (b) or the one described in part (c)?