Question

Make the best matching (i.e. each option gets exactly one partner) between the following terms and the scenarios described below: categorical variable, discrete numerical variable, continuous numerical variable, observational study, experiment, evidence of association, evidence of causation, placebo effect, respect for persons, experimenter bias

(a) a researcher tests a new drug in an experiment that meets the Gold Standard and finds strong evidence that it is effective

(b) a researcher wants to make sure that participants in a study are well informed and so sits with each one to explain what will happen before the study begins

(c) the height of a basketball player

(d) a participant in a study is placed in the control group, and feels a little better after receiving her treatment even though it is an inert substance

(e) a researcher randomly selects participants to survey to see if there is a link between smoking and daily caloric intake

(f) a researcher conducting an observational study gets statistically significant results

(g) the number that is up after a six-sided die is rolled

(h) the number of customers that make a purchase at a store during day

(i) a researcher is concerneed about the health of participants in a study, and so makes sure that participants whose risk is above a certain threshold are placed in the group that will receive the treatmeent that he believes is most effective

(j) a researcher randomly selects participants and assigns half to a vegetarian diet and half to a diet that includes meat and then has them report their average level of contentment to see if there is a connection between diet and contentment

Answer 1

a) This is an example of experiment. Since an experiment is conducted here on the new drug and it's results are then reported.

b) This is a type of experimenter bias. Since the researcher sits with each participant to explain what will happen before the study he is sort of affecting the results of the study thus creating a bias here.

c) The Heights can take any continuous value so it's a continuous numerical variable.

d) This is a type of placebo effect since since participants feel better even after they recieve an inert substance and not a real one.

e) The researcher here wants to see if there's an evidence of association between smoking and daily calorie intake.

f) This is an Observational study since Observational study is conducted and statistically significant results are obtained.

g) This is a numerical variable (Since nos between 1,2,..6) are observed after rolling a 6 sided die.