1. Intro to Stats and Collecting Data

"School Psychology A school psychologist wants to test the effectiveness of a new method for teaching reading. She recruits 500 first-grade students in District 203 and randomly divides them into two groups. Group 1 is taught by means of the new method, while group 2 is taught by traditional methods. The same teacher is assigned to teach both groups. At the end of the year, an achievement test is administered and the results of the two groups are compared.

Explain how time of day the course is taught could potentially confound the results of the study. Can anything be done to eliminate the effect of this confounding variable?"

"Pharmacy A pharmaceutical company has developed an experimental drug meant to relieve symptoms associated with the common cold. The company identifies 300 adult males 25 to 29 years old who have a common cold and randomly divides them into two groups. Group 1 is given the experimental drug, while group 2 is given a placebo. After 1 week of treatment, the subjects report whether they still have cold symptoms, or not.

Think of some of the factors in the study. How are they controlled?"

Daily Coffee Consumption Is there an association between daily coffee consumption and the occurrence of skin cancer? Researchers asked 93,676 women to disclose their coffee-drinking habits and also determined which of the women had nonmelanoma skin cancer. The researchers concluded that consumption of six or more cups of caffeinated coffee per day was associated with a reduction in nonmelanoma skin cancer. Source: European Journal of Cancer Prevention, 16(5): 446–452, October 2007.

What is the response variable in the study? What is the explanatory variable?

[NW] Television in the Bedroom Is a television (TV) in the bedroom associated with obesity? Researchers questioned 379 twelve-year old adolescents and concluded that the body mass index (BMI) of the adolescents who had a TV in their bedroom was significantly higher than the BMI of those who did not have a TV in their bedroom. Source: Christelle Delmas, Carine Platat, Brigitte Schweitzer, Aline Wagner, Mohamed Oujaa, and Chantal Simon. “Association Between Television in Bedroom and Adiposity Throughout Adolescence,” Obesity, 15:2495–2503, 2007.

What is the response variable in the study? What is the explanatory variable?

[NW] Television in the Bedroom Is a television (TV) in the bedroom associated with obesity? Researchers questioned 379 twelve-year old adolescents and concluded that the body mass index (BMI) of the adolescents who had a TV in their bedroom was significantly higher than the BMI of those who did not have a TV in their bedroom. Source: Christelle Delmas, Carine Platat, Brigitte Schweitzer, Aline Wagner, Mohamed Oujaa, and Chantal Simon. “Association Between Television in Bedroom and Adiposity Throughout Adolescence,” Obesity, 15:2495–2503, 2007.

c. Can you think of any lurking variables that may affect the results of the study?

[NW] Television in the Bedroom Is a television (TV) in the bedroom associated with obesity? Researchers questioned 379 twelve-year old adolescents and concluded that the body mass index (BMI) of the adolescents who had a TV in their bedroom was significantly higher than the BMI of those who did not have a TV in their bedroom. Source: Christelle Delmas, Carine Platat, Brigitte Schweitzer, Aline Wagner, Mohamed Oujaa, and Chantal Simon. “Association Between Television in Bedroom and Adiposity Throughout Adolescence,” Obesity, 15:2495–2503, 2007.

d. In the report, the researchers stated, “These results remain significant after adjustment for socioeconomic status.” What does this mean?

Midwives Researchers Sally Tracy and associates undertook a cross-sectional study looking at the method of delivery and cost of delivery for first-time “low risk” mothers under three delivery scenarios:

1. Caseload midwifery

2. Standard hospital care

3. Private obstetric care

The results of the study revealed that 58.5% of all births with midwifery were vaginal deliveries compared with 48.2% of standard hospital births and 30.8% of private obstetric care. In addition, the costs of delivery from midwifery was \$3903.78 compared with \$5279.23 for standard hospital care and \$5413.69 for private obstetric care.Source: Sally K Tracy, Alec Welsh, Bev Hall, Donna Hartz, Anne Lainchbury, Andrew Bisits, Jan White, and Mark Tracy “Caseload midwifery compared to standard or private obstetric care for first time mothers in a public teaching hospital in Australia: a cross sectional study of cost and birth outcomes” BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2014, 14:46.

b. Name the explanatory variable in the study.

Web Page Design Magnum, LLC, is a web page design firm that has two designs for an online hardware store. To determine which is the more effective design, Magnum uses one page in the Denver area and a second page in the Miami area. For each visit, Magnum records the amount of time visiting the site and the amount spent by the visitor.

c. Explain how confounding might be an issue with this study.

Tooth-Whitening Gum Smoking and drinking coffee have a tendency to stain teeth. In an effort to determine the ability of chewing gum to remove stains on teeth, researchers conducted an experiment in which 64 bovine incisors (teeth) were stained with natural pigments such as coffee for 10 days. Each tooth was randomly assigned to one of four treatments: gum A, gum B, gum C, or saliva. Each tooth group was placed into a device that simulated a human chewing gum. The temperature of the device was maintained at body temperature and the tooth was in the device for 20 minutes. The process was repeated six times (for a total of 120 minutes of chewing). The researcher conducting the experiment did not know which treatment was being applied to each experimental unit. Upon removing a tooth from the chewing apparatus, the color change was measured using a spectrophotometer. The percentage of stain removed by each treatment after 120 minutes is as follows: Gum A, 47.6%; Gum B, 45.2%, Gum C, 21.4%, Saliva, 2.1%. The researchers concluded that gums A and B removed significantly more stain than gum C or saliva. In addition, gum C removed significantly more stain than saliva.

g. State a factor that could affect the value of the response variable that is fixed at a set level.

Reaction Time Researchers wanted to assess the effect of low alcohol consumption on reaction time in seniors, believing that even low levels of alcohol consumption can impair the ability to walk, thereby increasing the likelihood of falling. They identified 13 healthy seniors who were not heavy consumers of alcohol. The experiment took place in late afternoon. Each subject was instructed to have a light lunch and not to drink any caffeinated drinks in the 4 hours prior to arriving at the lab. The seniors were asked to walk on a treadmill on which an obstacle would appear randomly. The reaction time was measured by determining the time it took the senior to lift his or her foot upon the appearance of the obstacle. First, each senior walked the treadmill after consuming a drink consisting of water mixed with orange juice with the scent and taste of vodka. The senior was then asked to drink two additional drinks (40% vodka mixed with orange juice). The senior then walked on the treadmill again. The average response time increased by 19 milliseconds after the alcohol treatment. The researchers concluded that response times are significantly delayed even for low levels of alcohol consumption.

Can you think of any factors that may affect reaction to alcohol that were not controlled?

Reaction Time Researchers wanted to assess the effect of low alcohol consumption on reaction time in seniors, believing that even low levels of alcohol consumption can impair the ability to walk, thereby increasing the likelihood of falling. They identified 13 healthy seniors who were not heavy consumers of alcohol. The experiment took place in late afternoon. Each subject was instructed to have a light lunch and not to drink any caffeinated drinks in the 4 hours prior to arriving at the lab. The seniors were asked to walk on a treadmill on which an obstacle would appear randomly. The reaction time was measured by determining the time it took the senior to lift his or her foot upon the appearance of the obstacle. First, each senior walked the treadmill after consuming a drink consisting of water mixed with orange juice with the scent and taste of vodka. The senior was then asked to drink two additional drinks (40% vodka mixed with orange juice). The senior then walked on the treadmill again. The average response time increased by 19 milliseconds after the alcohol treatment. The researchers concluded that response times are significantly delayed even for low levels of alcohol consumption.

f. Why do you think the researchers used a drink that had the scent and taste of vodka to serve as the treatment for a baseline measure?

Explain why it is important to use a control group and blinding in an experiment.

List the steps required to conduct an experiment.

Each of the following surveys has bias. Identify the type of bias.

a. A television survey that gives 900 phone numbers for viewers to call with their vote. Each call costs \$2.00.

Each of the following surveys has bias. Identify the type of bias.

A researcher conducting a poll about national politics sends a survey to a random sample of subscribers to Time magazine.