/*! This file is auto-generated */ .wp-block-button__link{color:#fff;background-color:#32373c;border-radius:9999px;box-shadow:none;text-decoration:none;padding:calc(.667em + 2px) calc(1.333em + 2px);font-size:1.125em}.wp-block-file__button{background:#32373c;color:#fff;text-decoration:none} Problem 39 Pain reduction medication Consid... [FREE SOLUTION] | 91影视

91影视

Log out

Learning Materials

Features

Discover

Chapter 4: Problem 39

Pain reduction medication Consider an experiment being designed to study the effectiveness of an experimental pain reduction medication. The plan includes recruiting 100 individuals suffering from moderate to severe pain to participate. One half of the group will be assigned to take the actual experimental drug, and the other half will be assigned a placebo. The study will be blind in the sense that the individuals will not know which treatment they are receiving. At the end of the study, individuals will be asked to record using a standardized scale how much pain relief they experienced. Why is it important to use a placebo in such a study?

Short Answer

Expert verified
Placebo allows differentiation between psychological and actual drug effects, ensuring accurate evaluation of drug efficacy.

Step by step solution

01

Understanding Placebo

A placebo is an inactive substance or treatment that has no therapeutic effect. It's often used as a control in testing new drugs.
02

Role of a Placebo

The placebo helps differentiate the effects of the actual drug from participants' psychological expectations or hope for relief.
03

Comparison between Groups

By comparing the results of the group taking the actual drug with the group taking the placebo, researchers can gauge how effective the medication is beyond the placebo effect.
04

Minimizing Bias

Using a placebo helps reduce bias from participants and researchers by blinding them to the treatment, allowing objective measurement of the drug's efficacy.

Unlock Step-by-Step Solutions & Ace Your Exams!

  • Full Textbook Solutions

    Get detailed explanations and key concepts

  • Unlimited Al creation

    Al flashcards, explanations, exams and more...

  • Ads-free access

    To over 500 millions flashcards

  • Money-back guarantee

    We refund you if you fail your exam.

Over 30 million students worldwide already upgrade their learning with 91影视!

Key Concepts

These are the key concepts you need to understand to accurately answer the question.

Experimental Design
When designing an experiment, especially in medical research, the primary goal is to establish a reliable and unbiased understanding of how treatments work. In this scenario, experimental design involves organizing a controlled setting where the new pain reduction medication's effectiveness can be assessed. This requires careful planning to ensure that the study yields valid and reproducible results.

A well-designed experiment typically includes:
  • Randomization: Participants are randomly assigned to either the treatment group or the placebo group. This helps ensure that any observed effects are due to the treatment rather than pre-existing differences between participants.
  • Controlled settings: Both the drug and placebo groups are monitored under the same conditions to minimize external factors that could impact results.
  • Standardized measures: By using a consistent scale for participants to report their pain relief, results are comparable across the entire study.
These components ensure that the experimental design is robust, enabling researchers to conclude the drug's effectiveness with confidence.
Blinding in Experiments
Blinding is a critical aspect of experimental design that aids in minimizing bias. In the context of this study, it refers to the fact that participants are unaware of whether they are receiving the actual medication or a placebo. This reduces any psychological influence that might alter a participant's perception of pain relief.

Blinding can occur at various levels:
  • Single-blind: Only the participants are unaware of which group they belong to, which is the approach used in this experiment.
  • Double-blind: Neither the participants nor the researchers who interact with them know who is receiving the actual treatment, ensuring even greater objectivity.
By reducing the placebo effect and other biases, blinding helps in accurately assessing the true efficacy of the medication, as responses are based solely on the treatment's actual impact.
Control Group in Experiments
In every well-constructed experiment, including this one, a control group is essential. The control group receives an inactive treatment, known as the placebo in medical research. This offers a baseline that researchers use to compare the effects of the actual drug.

The control group serves several purposes:
  • Comparison: It allows researchers to see what changes occur in the absence of the active drug and isolate the treatment's effect.
  • Standardization: It ensures that any effects seen in the treatment group are attributed to the medication itself, not external variables.
  • Insight into psychological effects: Often, just taking a pill or undergoing a treatment might cause participants to feel better. By having a group taking a placebo, researchers can identify effects due purely to psychological expectations, known as the placebo effect.
The control group is pivotal in confirming that observed results are indeed the effects of the experimental medication, supporting a solid conclusion about its effectiveness.

One App. One Place for Learning.

All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.

Get started for free

Most popular questions from this chapter

What's your favorite poem? In fall \(1995,\) the \(\mathrm{BBC}\) in Britain requested viewers to call the network and indicate their favorite poem. Of 7500 callers, more than twice as many voted for Rudyard Kipling's If than for any other poem. The \(\mathrm{BBC}\) then reported that this was the clear favorite. a. Since any person could call, was this sample a simple random sample? Explain. b. Was this a volunteer sample? Explain. c. If the BBC truly wanted to determine Brits' favorite poem, how could they do so more reliably?

Cell phones If you want to conduct a study with humans to see if cell phone use makes brain cancer more likely, explain why an observational study is more realistic than an experiment.

Allergy relief An experiment is being designed to compare relief from hay fever symptoms given by a low dose of a drug, a high dose of the drug, and a placebo. Each subject who suffers from hay fever and volunteers for the study is observed on three separate days, with a different treatment used each day. There are two days between treatments, so that a treatment does not have a carry-over effect for the next treatment assigned. a. What are the blocks in this block design? What is this type of block design called?

Multistage health survey \(\quad\) A researcher wants to study regional differences in dental care. He takes a multistage sample by dividing the United States into four regions, taking a simple random sample of ten schools in each region, randomly sampling three classrooms in each school, and interviewing all students in those classrooms about whether they've been to a dentist in the previous year. Identify each stage of this sampling design, indicating whether it involves stratification or clustering.

Baseball under a full moon Exercise 4.10 mentioned that the away team has won 13 consecutive games played between the Boston Brouhahas and Minnesota Meddlers during full moons. This is a statement based on retrospective observational data. a. Many databases are huge, including those containing sports statistics. If you had access to the database, do you think you could uncover more surprising trends? b. Would you be more convinced that the phase of the moon has predictive power if the away team were to win the next 13 games played under a full moon between Boston and Minnesota? c. The results of which type of observational study are generally more reliable, retrospective or prospective?
See all solutions

Recommended explanations on Math Textbooks

Mechanics Maths

Read Explanation

Statistics

Read Explanation

Calculus

Read Explanation

Pure Maths

Read Explanation

Discrete Mathematics

Read Explanation

Probability and Statistics

Read Explanation
View all explanations

What do you think about this solution?

We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.

Study anywhere. Anytime. Across all devices.