Massachusetts is considering a new state-wide education to better rehabilitate p
ID: 3328514 • Letter: M
Question
Massachusetts is considering a new state-wide education to better rehabilitate prisoners before their release with the hope of reducing the percentage who will be back in prison, this type of program has already been tried on a voluntary basis in one county where courses in anger management, addiction, and post-release planning were made available to inmates six months before their release. A newspaper article titled "Prison education program cut rate of re-offending" details how inmates who participated in these courses were half as likely to re-offend as the ones who didn't participate.
a) Is this study observational or experimental?
b) Do these results mean the counseling program is effective or is there an important confounding factor to consider here? Explain.
c) How could you conduct a better study where participation is still voluntary?
Explanation / Answer
a) T
his is the observational study.
b)
Yes, these results mean the counseling program is effective because inmates who participated in these courses were half as likely to re-offend as the ones who didn't participate.
c)
a better study where participation is still voluntary is to conduct Prison education program without any rate of re-offending and study the results.