HS: 313

Population of Interest

Geography: India

Age: 25-40

Gender: M and F
Research question

Is being mentally unwell a result of an individual’s success ?

Hypothesis

An individual’s success depends on their success in life

Case-Control study

1.1
Being successful

Mentally ill Individual

1.2
Not Being
significantly Study
successful Population

1.3
Being successful
Mentally well Individual

1.4
Not Being
significantly
successful
Further Explanation

1.1 Mentally ill individuals whose condition is predominantly result of their success.

1.2 Mentally ill individuals whose condition is independent of their success. (eg. loss of loved one)

1.3 Mentally well individual whose health has only improved with success.

1.4 Mentally well individual whose health is unaffected by not being significantly successful.

Being successful is subjective as success is subjective.

Study population chosen keeping in mind the number of mentally ill people who are younger, also success is
an important part of life when you are young.
Reasons for choosing Study design

1. In this study design method we don’t have to wait for 20-30 years to carry out the study as the
method is based on past experiences. That way we can ask questions we cannot ask in other
surveys.
2. Specifically in this study, Mental health can be affected by a lot of factors but when we
back-track an individual’s past choices we can figure out the reason for the person’s illness.

A survey or experiment has not been chosen as their time span is more and as time goes on
events unfold which make the method less relevant due to increased variables and complexity.
Further Explanation

Sample: 200 people from which we expect equal predetermined 100-100 case and control population from
the hospital records.

Plan to approach: we will collect mental illness records for a study(if the norms allow corroboration from the
authorities) further ask questions only if the individual is comfortable.

How, when & where: Hospital public records, time independent, mental health sensitive establishments.
Threats to causal validity

● Ambiguous temporal validity: Does the test translate chronic relationship between mental health and success?

This threat is taken care of in our test as we have established the health conditions.

● History: other events causing the same effect

We can take care of this as we direct the question towards the well being

● Maturation: naturally occurring events could change the outcomes (a person could learn to cope with their mental illness)

We have predetermined mental well beings so we have clear occurence of events and their possible outcomes.

● Testing: participants can predict the test and even get bored.

We are not doing repeated test so we do not experience this threat.

Effect of threat and direction of bias

Maturation: we can have cases where we have no relation between well being and success due to enough events
happening with time. When we do the test in a person’s lifetime is a big factor.

Testing: The participants can get bored with the test leading to false conclusions.