Consider the scenario: A patient reports to his physician about a reaction to a
ID: 3209089 • Letter: C
Question
Consider the scenario:
A patient reports to his physician about a reaction to a new medication. The physician uses this information in deciding to adjust the prescribed dosage or to change the medication for others.
Is it appropriate to consider the given scenario as an example of anecdotal evidence
A friend has driven a Toyota Camry for more than 200,000 miles and with only the usual service maintenance expenses.
Based on the given information, can all Camry owners expect this kind of performance?
An educational software company wants to compare the effectiveness of its computer animation for teaching creative writing with that of a textbook presentation. The company tests the creative-writing skills of each of a number of second-year college students and then randomly divides them into two groups. One group uses the animation, and the other studies the text. The company retests all the students and compares the increase in creative-writing skills in the two groups.
Is this an experiment? Why or why not? What are the explanatory and response variables?
a. This is an experiment since each subject is assigned to a group with a certain treatment. The explanatory variable is the change in each student's test score and the response variable is the teaching method.
b. This is an experiment since each subject is assigned to a certain teaching method. The explanatory variable is the teaching method and response variable is the change in each student's test score.
c. This is an observational study since there is no interference in the student's study. The explanatory variable is the teaching method, and the response variable is the change in each student's test score.
d. This is an observational study since the students are assigned to two groups where they receive two different kinds of treatments. The explanatory variable is the teaching method, and the response variable is the change in each student's test score.
Some people believe that teams or individual athletes who appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine will experience bad luck soon after they appear.
True or False:
This belief can be easily evaluated with an experiment.
Some claim that magnets can be used to reduce pain. You are required to design a double-blind experiment to test this claim.
Identify the appropriate double-blind design for the given study.
Vitamin D is needed for the body to use calcium. An experiment is designed to see the effects of calcium and vitamin D supplements on the bones of first-year college students. The outcome measure is the total body mineral content (TBBMC), a measure of bone health. Three doses of calcium will be used: 0, 200, and 400 mg/day. The doses of vitamin D will be 0, 50, and 100 international units (IU) per day. The calcium and vitamin D will be given in a single tablet. All tablets including those with no calcium and no vitamin D will look identical. Subjects for the study will be 90 men and 90 women.
Identify the correct factor(s) and the number of treatments for this experiment.
A coffee house wants to compare two new varieties of coffee. For this study, there are two experiments under consideration. In experiment 1, different customers evaluate each variety. In experiment 2, each customer evaluates both varieties of coffee.
Experiment 1
Flip a coin for each customer to choose which variety (s)he will taste. To evaluate preferences, we would need to design some scale for customers to rate the coffee they tasted, and then compare the ratings.
Experiment 2
Flip a coin for each customer to choose which variety (s)he will taste first. Ask which of the two coffees (s)he preferred.
Which of the two given designs can be considered as the stronger design?
Bee pollen is effective for combating fatigue, depression, cancer, and colon disorders.
So says a Web site that offers the pollen for sale. We wonder if bee pollen really does prevent colon disorders. Here are two ways to study this question. Explain why the first design will produce more trustworthy data.
1. Find 400 women who do not have colon disorders. Assign 200 to take bee pollen capsules and the other 200 to take placebo capsules that are identical in appearance.
Follow both groups for 5 years.
2. Find 200 women who take bee pollen regularly.
Match each with a woman of the same age, race, and occupation who does not take bee pollen. Follow both groups for 5 years.
Consider the scenario:
A patient reports to his physician about a reaction to a new medication. The physician uses this information in deciding to adjust the prescribed dosage or to change the medication for others.
Is it appropriate to consider the given scenario as an example of anecdotal evidence
Explanation / Answer
Yes No This is an experiment since each subject is assigned to a certain teaching method. The explanatory variable is the teaching method and response variable is the change in each student's test score. available data Experiments Subjects biased False Randomly assign the subjects to be treated with magnets or a placebo. The subjects and researcher should be prevented from determining whether the subjects are being treated with a magnet or a placebo and measure their responses in terms of pain relief. The factors are calcium dose and vitamin D dose. There are six treatments. Experiment 1 The first design is an observational study, while the second design is an experiment. The second design will produce less trustworthy data since in this case intervention may prevent seeing the real picture.