Instruction: Design a study to investigate the causal relationship between social media use and mental health outcomes.
Context: Applicants are challenged to address the public concern of social media's impact on mental health through a study that can effectively discern causality, considering the ethical implications and methodological limitations.
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To begin with, clarifying the question's scope involves defining what we mean by "social media use" and "mental health outcomes." For the purpose of this study, let's operationalize social media use as the daily time spent on social media platforms, categorized into low, medium, and high usage groups based on quartiles. Mental health outcomes can be measured through validated survey instruments assessing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and overall well-being, administered at multiple points throughout the study.
The design of the study is paramount. A longitudinal study would be most effective in inferring causality, as it allows us to observe changes over time. Ethical considerations prevent us from manipulating social media use directly, so an observational design is necessitated. However, to strengthen our causal inference, we can use propensity score...
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