Treatment for Osteoporosis Osteoporosis is a condition in whic...

Question

Treatment for Osteoporosis Osteoporosis is a condition in which people experience decreased bone mass and an increase in the risk of bone fracture. Actonel is a drug that helps combat osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. In clinical trials, 1374 postmenopausal women were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The subjects in the experimental group were administered 5 milligrams (mg) of Actonel, while the subjects in the control group were administered a placebo. The number of women who experienced a bone fracture over the course of one year was recorded. Of the 696 women in the experimental group, 27 experienced a fracture during the course of the year. Of the 678 women in the control group, 49 experienced a fracture during the course of the year.
a. What type of experimental design is this? What is the response variable? Is it qualitative or quantitative? What are the treatments?

a. What type of experimental design is this? What is the response variable? Is it qualitative or quantitative? What are the treatments?

Accepted Answer

Hi everyone. Let's move on to our next problem. A new anti-hypertensive drug study enrolled 820 adults with high blood pressure who were randomly assigned to two groups. The treatment group of 412 participants received the new drug daily, and the control group of 408 participants received a placebo. After 6 months, researchers recorded whether each participant's systolic blood pressure fell below 130 millimeters of mercury. And then in parenthesis yes or no. And then we have 4 things we need to do. Number 1, identify the type of experimental design. Number 2, state the response variable. Number 3, determine if the response is qualitative or quantitative. And number 4 lists the treatments. So, let's start with experimental design. We have a group of people in the study, and this group is randomly assigned to one of two groups. So this is randomized. And then our two groups, one it receives the treatment, uh, receives the new drug, and the other receives a placebo. So, it's controlled, because you're comparing the people that receive the drug to people that receive a placebo. The control is a placebo, because you have to account for the fact that people might improve, just based on the thought that they're receiving something, uh receiving a medication that will make them feel better. So by giving a placebo, Everyone believes they might be receiving the medication, or maybe they're not, but half are receiving the new drug, half are receiving nothing. So that's part one, and then part two state the response variable. So, what is being measured in the response? Now, you might be tempted to say systolic blood pressure, but it's a little more specific than that, because you're not looking at measuring blood pressure and noting someone's blood pressure and comparing those values as what they are. Instead, you're seeing is the blood pressure below 133, 130 millimeters of mercury. So the response variable is Is the systolic blood pressure less than 130 millimeters of mercury? Then number 3 connected to that is this response qualitative or quantitative? And again, here it's a little bit tricky because if we just think of blood pressure values, that would be quantitative, but we're not asked for the value of the blood pressure, we're just having a yes or no question. Above or below or yes or no is it below 130. So this is going to be qualitative. If we want to be really specific about it, we could say it's a binary, yes or no, categorical. Response, because it's in, in a category with no, you know, values in between, either yes or no. And then finally, number 4, list the treatments. What are the different treatments that the different groups receive? Two groups, the treatments are either a placebo. Or the new drug Which seems kind of simplistic, but recall we might have a trial where it's a placebo and then different doses of a drug, or perhaps the control is an old drug that we know decreases blood pressure, and we're comparing it to the effect of a new drug. So, the placebo won't always be the control. So again, we are described a new anti-hypertensive drug study. We have a group of adults with high blood pressure. Of this group, they're randomly assigned to two groups, one of which receives the new drug, the other receives the placebo, and after 6 months, researchers record whether each participant's systolic blood pressure fell below 130 mg of mercury. So, we need to identify the type of experimental design, which is randomized controlled, state the response variable, is the systolic blood pressure, less than 130 mg of mercury. Determine if the response is qualitative or quantitative. It is qualitative, and what are the treatments, the placebo, and the new drug. Hope to see you in the next video.

Key Concepts

Experimental Design

Response Variable

Treatments in an Experiment

Watch next