Question

Diverticulitis is a common intestinal ailment. To test a new medication, a hospital takes 50 volunteers who have a moderate case of the disease. The volunteers are randomly assigned to two treatment groups, one receiving the old medication and one receiving the new medication. The pills are distributed in unmarked pill form so that the patients and medical professionals do not know which medication the patient is taking. Which of the following statements is/are true?

I. If the results show that the new medication is significantly more effective than the old medication, we can conclude that the new medication will be more effective for all people that have a moderate case of the disease.

II. The group receiving the old medication serves as a control group.

III. This is an example of a double-blind experiment.

• (A) II
• (B) I and II
• (C) I and III
• (D) II and III
• (E) I, II, and III

Answer 1

If the test is significant for sample, it can be generalized for the population.

Thus, if the new medication is effective for the sample, we can say that it will significantly affect all the people with a moderate case of the disease

I is true.

A control group is used as a baseline measure. The control group is identical to all other items or subjects that you are examining with the exception that it does not receive the treatment or the experimental manipulation that the treatment group receives.

Thus, II is true.

Now, neither the experimenter nor the subjects are aware about which treatment is given to whom. Therefore, as the name suggests, it is a double blind study.

III​​​​ is true.

Option E