An experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of different treatments

Question

An experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of different treatments on pain relief for migraine sufferers. 120 migraine sufferers were randomly allocated to three groups where one group took medication, one group changed their diet and one group received a placebo. After a month, each subject classified their pain relief into two categories,no pain relief and some pain relief.

(a) Why is this study classiffied as an experiment?

(b) What are the response variable and the explanatory variable in this experiment?

(c) What is the type and scale of measurement of the response variable data?

Explanation / Answer

a) Because:

Unlike a descriptive study, an experiment is a study in which a treatment, procedure, or program is intentionally introduced and a result or outcome is observed. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines an experiment as "A test under controlled conditions that is made to demonstrate a known truth, to examine the validity of a hypothesis, or to determine the efficacy of something previously untried."

b) Explanatory Variables vs. Response Variables. The response variable is the focus of a question in a study or experiment. An explanatory variable is one that explains changes in that variable. It can be anything that might affect the response variable.

response variable. = pain relief

explanatory variable = effect of different treatments (medication, diet, placebo)

c) Ordinal scale

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