California is evaluating a new program to rehabilitate prisonersbefore their rel

Question

California is evaluating a new program to rehabilitate prisonersbefore their release; the object is to reduce the recidivismrate--the percentage who will be back in prison within two years ofrelease. The program involves several months of "boot camp"--military-style basic training with very strict discipline. Admission to the program is voluntary. According to aprison spokesman, " Those who complete boot camp are less likely toreturn to prison than other inmates."

a) What is the treatment group in the prison spokesman'scomparison? the control group?

b) Is the prison spokesman's comparison based on an observationalstudy or a randomized controlled experiment?

c) True or false: the data show that boot camp worked.

Explain all of your answers.

Explanation / Answer

a) The treatment group is the new program to rehabilitate theprisoners. The control group is the current prisonsystem. This is what the treatment group will be compared toso that they have a basis of comparison. Without a controlgroup, you are unable to see if the treatment group is better orworse. b) An observational study is where the members of thetreatment group is out of the control of the experimenter. Arandomized study is where the members of the groups are randomlyassigned. So for this experiment, it is an observationalstudy because it is a voluntary admission to the program, whichmeans the choice of inmates in the program is not determined by theexperimenters. c) False. The spokesman does not mention that any data hasbeen collected to observe. The first sentence mentions thatthey are evaluating the program so that it has not drawn itsconclusions yet.

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