Introduction
Alcohol use has been almost unequivocally proven to negatively affect the learning process. Marijuana, on the other hand, has had mixed reviews for its impact on academic achievements. At the same time, there is not enough theoretical basis to understand the combined effect of the use of two types of psychoactive substances on learning abilities. The article Longitudinal Influence of Alcohol and Marijuana Use on Academic Performance in College Students seeks to contribute to this controversial issue.
Before Reading
The first expectation from the article can be formed by reading its title. I would like to get an answer to whether the use of alcohol and marijuana affects students’ academic performance and to what extent the effects of these substances differ. I guess that the authors will hypothesize that both alcohol and marijuana will worsen academic performance. I would like the sample in the article to be sufficient for generalizing statistical conclusions.
During Reading
The quantitative and correlational study design implies no influence on the variables. The students in the sample were only divided into groups, depending on their propensity to use (Meda et al., 2017). The advantage of this design is the ease of finding relationships between variables.
The disadvantage may be the lack of understanding of the quantitative relationship between variables, only their descriptive forecasting. I could have used experimental or quasi-experimental study design for this research. For experimental research design, regulating the number of substances consumed by students would be necessary. For a quasi-experimental study, the sample might not be randomized.
After Reading
The article provides conflicting conclusions about the relationship between the simultaneous use of marijuana and alcohol on student performance. The highest scores were shown by those who simultaneously use both types of psychoactive substances, as well as those who were previously inclined to use but then stopped it (Meda et al., 2017). The findings of the study do not answer my predictive questions, nor do they support my hypothesis.
In order for the results of the study to be more unambiguous, it is necessary to continue and expand it. To obtain results, it is necessary to expand the number of test groups to include those who do not use psychoactive substances, use both types, or only one of them. This division of the sample would help say with greater certainty which substance has a negative effect on academic performance. The methodological approach would remain quantitative, and the type of study could be a randomized control trial in which all groups took specific tests to understand the change in their learning abilities.
Reflection
Critical examination of the submitted article allowed me to understand that research does not always provide the expected results. I thought that using research types in which one can influence the variables under study is not always ethical. In this case, it would be impossible to force students to increase the amount of psychoactive substance use. Sometimes, researchers must put up with insufficiently accurate tests for the subjects’ health.
Conclusion
After reading the article, I still had initial questions to which I could not find a clear answer. The chosen type of study without control variables could lead to ambiguous results. However, the researchers could not do otherwise, since the experimental design would lead to a violation of moral and ethical standards. If I were to continue this study, I would expand it into a randomized control trial and find a clear relationship between substance use and academic performance.
Reference
Meda, S. A., Gueorguieva, R. V., Pittman, B., Rosen, R. R., Aslanzadeh, F., Tennen, H., & Pearlson, G. D. (2017). Longitudinal influence of alcohol and marijuana use on academic performance in college students. PLoS One, 12(3), 1-16. Web.