A doctor who believes strongly that antidepressants work better than \"talk ther
ID: 3301135 • Letter: A
Question
A doctor who believes strongly that antidepressants work better than "talk therapy" tests depressed patients by treating half of them with antidepressants and the other half with talk therapy. After six months the patients are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 indicating the greatest improvement. Answer parts (a) through (d) below.
a. The doctor is concerned that if his most severely depressed patients do not receive the antidepressants, they will get much worse. He therefore decides that the most severe patients will be assigned to receive the antidepressants. Explain why this will affect his ability to determine which approach works best.
A.
The doctor is creating a second treatment group that is dependent on the severity of the patient's depression. This will further confound the results.
B.
The doctor is assigning all antidepressants to only the most severely depressed people.
C.
If the doctor decides on the treatment, this could introduce bias.
D.
The doctor is letting his empathy get in the way of treating the patients objectively. This may cause personal issues for either the doctor or the patients over the course of the treatment.
b. What advice would you give the doctor to improve his study?
A.
The doctor must give an equal number of antidepressants to the least depressed patients and the most depressed patients in order to make the treatment sufficiently random.
B.
The doctor should remain as objective as possible in order to increase the chances of successfully treating the patients.
C.
The doctor should randomly assign the patients to the different treatments.
D.
The doctor should remove the least depressed people from the study.
E.
The doctor should divide the patients into groups based on how depressed they are, and give out a certain percentage of antidepressants to the least depressed group, a higher percentage to the more depressed group, and so on.
c. The doctor asks you whether it is acceptable for him to know which treatment each patient receives and to evaluate them himself at the end of the study to rate their improvement. Explain why this practice will affect his ability to determine which approach works best.
A.
If the doctor is aware of the treatment each patient receives, it may negatively affect the relationship between the doctor and patient during therapy sessions.
B.
If the doctor is aware of the treatment each patient receives, he may become too invested in the well-being of the patients.
C.
If the doctor is aware of the treatment each patient receives, he may bribe the patients to skew the results in his favor.
D.
If the doctor is aware of the treatment each patient receives, that might influence his opinion about the effectiveness of the treatment.
d. What improvements to the plan in part (c) would you recommend?
A.
To prevent bias, the experiment should be double-blind. Neither the patients nor the doctor evaluating the patients should know whether each patient received medication.
B.
To prevent bias, the doctor should use an evaluation procedure that is resistant to bias.
C.
To prevent bias, the sample size should be increased to reduce the effect of his bias on the study.
D.
To prevent bias, the evaluation should be completed by another doctor in order to make the study as objective as possible.
Explanation / Answer
A doctor who believes strongly that antidepressants work better than "talk therapy" tests depressed patients by treating half of them with antidepressants and the other half with talk therapy. After six months the patients are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 indicating the greatest improvement. Answer parts (a) through (d) below.
a. The doctor is concerned that if his most severely depressed patients do not receive the antidepressants, they will get much worse. He therefore decides that the most severe patients will be assigned to receive the antidepressants. Explain why this will affect his ability to determine which approach works best.
Answer :- A. The doctor is creating a second treatment group that is dependent on the severity of the patient's depression. This will further confound the results.
b. What advice would you give the doctor to improve his study?
Answer :- C.The doctor should randomly assign the patients to the different treatments.
c. The doctor asks you whether it is acceptable for him to know which treatment each patient receives and to evaluate them himself at the end of the study to rate their improvement. Explain why this practice will affect his ability to determine which approach works best.
Answer :- A. If the doctor is aware of the treatment each patient receives, it may negatively affect the relationship between the doctor and patient during therapy sessions.
d. What improvements to the plan in part (c) would you recommend?
Answer :- D.To prevent bias, the evaluation should be completed by another doctor in order to make the study as objective as possible.
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