# Week 3 Reproducibility Plan template
# Tutorial Y Group 1

## Summary and Reactions

## Team Member 1 - Georgia :)

## Summary
A paper by Folk and colleagues (2020) assessed the question of whether there was a within person change in reported levels of social connection and overall wellbeing from prior to COVID-19 and during COVID-19 and if this change in social connection differed between extraverted and introverted participants. The effects of COVID-19 on many aspects of our life are not yet fully understood. This research is trying to identify some important implications of physical distancing on our social world.

Two within subjects design studies were conducted where participants were required to complete prescreening measures before COVID-19 (Time 1) and a follow up of the same measures during COVID-19 (Time 2). Study 1, used 467 Canadian university students and they measured social connection and lethargy at Time 1 and 2, and extraversion and physical distancing was measured Time 2. What they found was that there was a small drop in social connectedness across participants from Time 1 to Time 2. When looking at the most extraverted and the most introverted participants, this drop in social connection was larger for extraverted participants but this effect was reversed after controlling for initial levels of social connectedness. When looking at overall wellbeing they found that increases in lethargy was associated with decreases in social connection but this relationship was not moderated by extraversion.
In study 2, they used 336 adults from mostly the US and UK but also 26 other countries. This study tried to address some flaws in the previous study by including a subjective wellbeing scale and measuring extraversion at Time 1. At both Time 1 and 2 measures of extraversion, social connection and subjective wellbeing were taken. What they found was that social connection and life satisfaction did not change between Time 1 and 2. When comparing the most extraverted and the most introverted participants they found that there was no change in loneliness between Time 1 and 2 for extroverts but there was a decrease in loneliness for introverts from Time 1 to Time 2 but when controlling for initial levels of loneliness this effect disappeared. They also found that increases in loneliness were associated with decreases in life satisfaction and increases in relatedness were associated with increases in life satisfaction but these relationships were not moderated by extraversion. What these studies suggest is that COVID-19 had little impact on participants sense of social connection. While extraverted participants seem to have shown the biggest decline in social connection these effects disappeared after controlling for prior levels of social connection. Ultimately, our sense of connection remains largely intact.

## Reaction 1
I was surprised that the conclusions of this paper were that there was relatively little change to our sense of social connection as the result of COVID-19. I was expecting that the social restrictions of COVID-19 would have impacted individual’s social connection more than it did and even more for extraverted people. The authors suggest the idea of substitution. This is the idea that we will always find a way to adapt to satisfy our needs. The reason that social connection remained relatively stable is that we found alternate ways to connect with others. This is an encouraging sentiment that we can be safe and explore new ways to connect with one another.

## Reaction 2
The most interesting part of the paper for me stemmed from the finding that the effects of extraversion were reversed or diminished if we controlled for initial levels of social connection or loneliness. The authors talk about extraverts as “losing more only because they had more to lose”. It is the idea that if all the participants started at the same level of social connectedness and loneliness then we would see the same magnitude of decreases or increases for these scales. However, this disregards reality. There are individual differences in social connectedness and it seems that those that have higher levels of social connectedness are experiencing bigger declines in their sense of connectedness. While the results suggest that extraversion does not moderate changes in social connection it is still important to acknowledge that extraverts do experience more of a decline in social connection in these special circumstances.

## Reaction 3
I wonder whether the results would differ if the authors had followed up a third time either late 2020 or during 2021. The current study seems to suggest that COVID-19 has a relatively small impact on our sense of social connection but I think it would be interesting to see if this still holds true for those participants considering the duration and intensity of COVID-19 restrictions that followed early 2020. I would expect that we would be quite resilient but I also think that the change in social connectedness may be more pronounced.

## Team Member 2

## Summary
Over two studies, the researchers aimed to determine what impact the pandemic had on participants in terms of their feelings of social connection and wellbeing.

**Study 1**: Students who had been surveyed on their social connection and lethargy prior to the pandemic (time 1) were surveyed again following the pandemic and asked about their levels of social connection and lethargy once more. They were also provided with a BFI-2 set of questions and their levels of extraversion were measured.

Here it was found that, overall, social connection had indeed declined. This decrease was also larger for extraverted people than it was for introverted people, however, this difference was negligible when pre-pandemic levels of social connection were controlled for. Extraverts started higher than introverts and, therefore, had "more to lose". Decreases in social connection also corresponded with decreases in lethargy (which was used as a proxy for wellbeing).

**Study 2**: An online platform was used to recruit participants. These participants in addition to a measure of social connection, were given an overall wellbeing measure. They also had extraversion measured pre-pandemic instead of post-pandemic.

Here, no significant change in social connection was found. Introverts had a slight increase in social connection while extroverts had no change. Again decreases in social connection and increases in loneliness corresponded with decreases in wellbeing.

Overall: researchers concluded that participants were able to mitigate the losses associated with loss of social connection, at least to some extent. In study 2 there was actually a slight increase in social connection.

## Reaction 1
***I was surprised that…***

In Study 2, there was no decrease in social connection and that there was even a reduction in feelings of loneliness. To me, just as suggested by the authors, this would seem to indicate that people are capable of adapting to their circumstances in helpful ways. It seems as though a large portion of people were able to get the support they needed, at least at the time of the experiment.

## Reaction 2
***I wonder whether…***

As suggested by the authors, I wonder whether subsequent waves of restrictions corresponded with similar results. It seems to me as though, at least initially, there may have been a greater amount of solidarity in confronting the issue. However, I wonder if, as time went on, people became more frustrated with their circumstances. Alternatively, I could envision a scenario where people become habituated to lockdowns and develop even better methods of coping.

## Reaction 3
***I want to learn more about…***

The role of circumstance in shaping how someone perceives their own personality. The fact that study 1 asked participants questions relating to personality at Time 2 interested me. Though they saw this as a flaw, I find the idea that people were forced to judge their personality following a massive change in their circumstance quite interesting. I wonder if, following the pandemic, people's self-perception or way of responding to personality questions changed to reflect the fact that they would be engaging in different kinds of behaviours.

## Team Member 3 - Saraa

## Summary
Background information:
The impact of COVID-19 on social interaction caries across individuals depending on their level of extraversion.
Depriving people of social contact may substantially reduce their positive feelings of interpersonal closeness and belonging, while increasing loneliness and perceived isolation\

Hypothesis:
Open question.
That extraverts will have a smaller reduction in social connection than introverts as they have more and higher quality relationships and therefore more people to turn to for support during difficult times such as the pandemic.
However, because introverts don’t social interact as much, therefore pandemics and isolation may not have significantly affected their lifestyle.

Study 1:
Method:
DV- measures of within-person change in social connection (via Social Connectedness Scale) and wellbeing (using lethargy as indicator-mental and physical fatigue)
IDV- before and after COVID-19

Results:
Introverts had a smaller drop in social connectedness whereas extroverts had a much larger drop.
Lethargy and social connectedness were significantly and negatively correlated (as social connectedness increases, lethargy increases).
However, if introverts and extroverts had the same level of social connectedness at Time 1, they would have had a smaller drop than introverts.

Limitations:
generalisability (uni undergrad students)
Using lethargy as a proxy for wellbeing.

Study 2:

Method:
Adult participants
Social connection —> relatedness sub scale + loneliness scale

Results:
no difference in relatedness
Loneliness was less during than before pandemic
Extraversion unrelated to relatedness but ext and intro felt loneliness
Smaller difference in loneliness for introverts than extroverts as they had higher levels of loneliness before pandemic (Therefore fare better than extroverts during pandemic).

## Reaction 1
**The take home message **that I am left with after reading this paper is that COVID-19 affects individuals differently based on their personality traits.

## Reaction 2
**I was really surprised** that the hypothesis was open ended and that they were unsure of what direction the research question might go in.

## Reaction 3
**Future work in this area** needs to also look into the impacts of other aspects of the pandemic such as online learning and working from home, rather than just focusing on social distancing as these aspects can also impact social interaction.

## Team Member 2

## Summary

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## Team Member 2

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## etc etc copy for other team members

# Our assessment criteria

1. My teammate pulled their weight - fairness
- i.e. attended Q&A, actively contributed during group meetings - weekly stand-up, helped to google/troubleshoot and supported others in their learning

2. My teammate interacted with the group in a way that created an inclusive environment for us to learn from each other -respect
- constructive feedback

3. My teammate ...

4. My teammate ...

5. My teammate ...

# Our reproducibility plan

The paper we are planning to reproduce is:

> insert citation

- [Paper](https://online.ucpress.edu/collabra/article/6/1/37/114469/Did-Social-Connection-Decline-During-the-First)
- [OSF](https://osf.io/zj9fv/?view_only=b6f77e38fbb54f839d6c2bd1fb8d41c2)

# Plan
There are 2 studies in this paper

# **STUDY 1**
## Demographics
From Stuy 1 method:

From Study 1 Results: