Effects of Smartphone on General Health and Personality Traits of Medical Students

[1]
Foundations of Biostatistics &
Epidemiology
Second assessment Part B

[2]
Section 1
ANS:
In the current research article, the effects of smartphone on general health and personality traits of
medical students were analyzed. Based on the scope and conceptual framework of the article,
possible hypotheses could be framed as,
I. Smartphone dependency and agreeableness (personality trait) were significantly correlated for
an individual (male or female).
II. Smartphone dependency and somatic symptoms (general health) were significantly correlated.
ANS:
The present research could be designed based on prospective cohort model of survey and
collection of data to identify the possibility of mood change, social obligations and other external
factors of the respondents. The sampling procedure would identify the respondents with and without
the presence of smartphone dependence, and then evaluate the comparative analysis of personality
traits. The study would be conducted with the help of questionnaire survey method for a period of 4
weeks. The longitudinal effect would help immensely in identifying the singularities and reduces
these random effects of the respondents. After collecting information from 400 respondents (large
enough for effect size), the descriptive and inferential analyses would be performed to establish the
relationship between the variables.
The four groups of the study (gender specific) would be (experimental group) smartphone
dependent individuals with significant agreeableness, smartphone dependent individuals without
significant agreeableness and (control group) smartphone independent individuals with significant
agreeableness, and smartphone independent individuals without significant agreeableness.

[3]
ANS:
The present research could also be designed based on the case-control model of the survey.
The sampling procedure would identify the difference in personality traits scores of respondents,
and then assess the comparative analysis of smartphone dependency based on gender. The study
would be conducted with the help of questionnaire survey method focusing on the Big 5 personality
score. The observational study effect would help immensely in identifying the respondents based on
their extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, and emotional instability.
The four groups of the study (gender specific) would be (experimental group) individuals of
high agreeableness with smartphone dependence, individuals of high agreeableness without
smartphone dependence and (control group) individuals with low agreeableness with smartphone
dependence, and individuals with low agreeableness without smartphone dependence.
.
ANS:
The findings in the research were not considered as significant due to the high significance
level. Considering that the p-values of the correlations were greater than the value of alpha (
) at 5% level of significance, the findings were not considered as significant.
Wakayama Smartphone-Dependence (WSD) sub scales were compared for the two genders.
Difference of scores on subscale 1 for males (M = 5.2, SD = 3.1) and females (M = 4.9, SD = 2.9)
was not found to be statistically significant as p = 0.52 at 5% level of significance. Similarly,
difference of scores on subscale 2 for males (M = 9.7, SD = 3.8) and females (M = 11.0, SD = 4.0)
was not found to be statistically significant as p = 0.07 at 5% level of significance. Difference of
scores on subscale 3 for males (M = 13.2, SD = 8.6)and females (M = 13.8, SD = 3.7) was also not
found to be statistically significant due to p = 0.36, and difference of scores on WSD scale for males
(M = 28.2, SD = 8.6)and females (M = 29.7, SD = 8.4) was not found to be statistically significant
as p = 0.32 at 5% level of significance.