Designing ExperimentsSubmitted by gfj100 on Tue, 11/10/2009 - 16:28ExampleSuppose some group claims that drinking caffeinated coffee causes hyperactivity college students, ages 18 to 22. How would this group produce data to determine the validity of this statement?1.Select some subset of college students of ages 18 to 22 and find their intake of caffeinated coffee. This would not be an experiment but rather an observational study: a part of the population is sampled and examined in order to gain information about the population. This is not an experiment because no treatment was imposed. Unfortunately, lurking variables can easily lead to unreliable results (e.g. other dietary intake, stress, family history).2.Give caffeinated coffee to a randomly sampled group of college students over a period of time and observe their behavior. This would be an experimentbecause a treatment is imposed: the caffeinated coffee. This design would be an improvement over the
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