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Chapter 9: Problem 11

Prayer and Meditation. You read in a magazine that "nonphysical treatments such as meditation and prayer have been shown to be effective in controlled scientific studies for such ailments as high blood pressure, insomnia, ulcers, and asthma." Explain in simple language what the article means by "controlled scientific studies." Why can such studies in principle provide good evidence that, for example, meditation is an effective treatment for high blood pressure?

Short Answer

Expert verified
Controlled scientific studies carefully isolate the effects of a treatment using control groups and randomization, providing reliable evidence of effectiveness.

Step by step solution

01

Understanding Controlled Scientific Studies

Controlled scientific studies are experiments designed to test the effects of a treatment in a structured way. In these studies, participants are divided into two groups: one receives the treatment, like meditation, and the other does not (the control group). This allows researchers to isolate the effect of the treatment from other factors.
02

Importance of Control Groups

The control group is crucial because it provides a baseline to compare the effects of the treatment. By using a control group, researchers can rule out other variables (like lifestyle changes or placebo effect) that might influence the outcome, ensuring that any observed effects are due to the treatment itself.
03

Randomization for Unbiased Results

Participants are randomly assigned to either the treatment or control group. Randomization helps ensure that the two groups are similar in all respects other than the treatment. This balance reduces biases and increases the reliability of the study's conclusions.
04

Analyzing Results

Researchers analyze the data collected from both groups to see if there's a significant difference in outcomes (e.g., blood pressure levels) between those who received meditation and those who did not. Statistical analysis helps determine if any observed differences are likely due to the treatment rather than chance.
05

Providing Evidence of Effectiveness

If the study shows a significant improvement in the treatment group compared to the control, it suggests that the treatment (meditation) is effective. Such controlled studies provide strong evidence because they systematically eliminate confounding factors, making the results more trustworthy.

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Key Concepts

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

Treatment and Control Groups
Controlled scientific studies involve two types of groups: the treatment group and the control group. These groups are essential components in testing the effectiveness of a treatment, like meditation for high blood pressure.
  • The **treatment group** receives the intervention being tested, such as meditation. They are the primary focus and undergo the method researchers aim to evaluate.
  • The **control group**, on the other hand, does not receive the treatment. They might receive a placebo or no intervention at all. This group acts as a baseline to compare against the treatment group.
By comparing the outcomes of the treatment group with the control group, researchers can identify whether the treatment leads to actual changes or improvements. This comparison helps eliminate other potential factors influencing the results, making the findings more reliable.
Randomization
Randomization is a crucial step in controlled scientific studies. It involves assigning participants to the treatment or control group purely by chance. This method helps ensure the groups are similar in all ways except for the treatment they receive.
  • **Equal Chance**: Each participant has an equal chance of being placed in either group. This random placement helps prevent biases that could skew the results.
  • **Balanced Groups**: By randomly assigning participants, researchers aim to create groups that are balanced in terms of demographic and health characteristics.
  • **Reduced Confounding Variables**: Because randomization helps ensure that both known and unknown factors are equally distributed across groups, it reduces the risk that these factors will confound the results.
This randomness strengthens the study's credibility, making it more likely that observed effects are due to the treatment itself, not other incidental factors.
Placebo Effect
The placebo effect is a fascinating psychological phenomenon that can play a significant role in scientific studies. It refers to the positive impact of a treatment, purely because the individual believes it will work, even if the treatment has no therapeutic effect.
  • **Control Consideration**: In studies, the control group may receive a placebo, which is an inactive substance or treatment that appears identical to the actual treatment.
  • **Mind Over Matter**: Participants receiving a placebo might report or experience positive changes simply because they expect benefits. This can sometimes make it difficult to determine whether improvements are due to the treatment or their belief in it.
  • **Why It's Important**: Including a placebo helps researchers identify how much of the treatment's effect is due to the participants' expectations rather than the treatment itself.
Understanding the placebo effect is vital for interpreting results correctly, hence reinforcing the importance of a properly designed control group in such studies.
Statistical Analysis
Statistical analysis is the process researchers use to interpret the data collected from their experiments. In controlled scientific studies, it helps uncover any significant differences between the treatment and control groups.
  • **Comparing Data**: Researchers assess measurements from both groups to see if there is a consistent pattern, like lower blood pressure in the group that received meditation.
  • **Determining Significance**: They use statistical tests to determine if the observed differences are likely due to the treatment or merely random chance. This often involves calculations of p-values or confidence intervals.
  • **Clarifying Results**: Proper statistical analysis helps ensure that conclusions drawn from the study are robust and reliable. It sifts through the noise to highlight meaningful findings.
Through these methods, statistical analysis plays a critical role in validating the effectiveness of treatments tested in controlled scientific studies.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Let Them Eat Chocolate. There is some evidence that cocoa has beneficial effects on heart health. To study this, researchers decide to give subjects either a cocoa pill or a placebo daily for a two-year period. Measurements of the subjects' heart health, based on a questionnaire, before and after the two-year period, are to be compared. ? a. Out line the design of this experiment, using 20 subjects, with 10 assigned to each group b. Here are the names of the 20 subjects. Use software or Table B at line 129 to carry out the randomization your design requires. \begin{tabular}{|l|l|l|l|l|} \hline Abel & Devore & Kennedy & Reichert & Stout \\ \hline Aeffner & Fleming & Lamone & Riddle & Williams \\ \hline Birkel & Fritz & Mani & Sawant & Wilson \\ \hline Bower & Giriunas & Mattos & Scannell & Worbis \\ \hline \end{tabular} c. Do you think this can be run as a double-blind experiment? Explain.

Eggs and Cholesterol. An article in a medical journal reports on an experiment to see the effect on cholesterol levels of eating three whole eggs per day compared to eating the equivalent of a yolk-free egg substitute. The article describes the experiment as a randomized, single-blinded experiment of 37 subjects with metabolic syndrome. \(\frac{17}{}\) What do you think "single- blinded" means here? Why isn't a doubleblind experiment possible?

Red Meat and Mortality. Many studies have found an association between red meat consumption and an increased risk of chronic diseases. What is the relationship between red meat consumption and mortality? A large study followed 120,000 men and women who were free of coronary heart disease and cancer at the beginning of the study. Participants were asked detailed questions about their eating habits every 4 years, and the study spanned almost 30 years. It was found that the risk of dying at an early age-from heart disease, cancer, or any other cause, rises with the amount of red meat consumed. 23 a. Is this an observational study or an experiment? What are the explanatory and response variables? b. The authors noted that "Men and women with higher intake of red meat were less likely to be physically active and were more likely to be current smokers, to drink alcohol, and to have a higher body mass index." Explain carefully why differences in these variables make it more difficult to conclude that higher intake of red meat explains the increased death rate. What are the variables physical activity, smoking status, drinking behavior, and body mass index called? c. Suggest at least one lurking variable related to diet that may be confounded with higher intake of red meat. Explain why you chose the variable or variables you chose.

Shared Pain and Bonding. Alt hough painful experiences are involved in social rituals in many parts of the world, little is known about the social effects of pain. Will sharing painful experiences in a small group lead to greater bonding of group members than sharing a similar nonpainful experience? Twenty- seven of 54 university students in New South Wales, Australia, were assigned at random into a pain group, with the remaining students in the no-pain group. Pain was induced by two tasks. In the first task, students submerged their hands in freezing water for as long as possible, moving metal balls at the bottom of the vessel into a submerged container; in the second task, students performed a standing wall squat with back straight and knees at 90 degrees for as long as possible. The no-pain group completed the first task using room temperature water for 90 seconds, and the second task by balancing on one foot for 60 seconds, changing feet if necessary. In both the pain and no-pain settings, the students completed the tasks in small groups, which typically consisted of four students and contained similar levels of group interaction. Afterward, each student completed a questionnaire to create a bonding score based on answers to questions such as "I feel the participants in this study have a lot in common" or "I feel I can trust the other participants." \(\frac{12}{}\) a. Outline the design of the experiment, following the model of Figure 9.4. b. Explain how you will randomly assign the subjects at random to the two groups and then carry out this randomization using software, the Simple Random Sample applet, or Table B, beginning at line 125 . c. Why do you think the experimenter had students in the no-pain group complete similar pain-free tasks in small groups? Do you think this is important for the type of conclusion that can be reached? Explain.

Researchers recruited 60 undergraduate students, in exchange for course credit, for a study on the effect of recycling on how much wrapping paper subjects used to wrap a gift. The subjects were randomly assigned to one of two rooms. In one room there was a large recycling bin and in the other a large trash bin. Subjects were asked to wrap a gift. Unknown to the students, the researchers were interested in how much paper the students used. The researchers found that students in the room with the recycling bin used (statistically) significantly more paper than those in the room with a trash bin. The researchers had hypothesized that people in general would rather recycle than throw things in the trash and hence would use less of a disposable resource when recycling is not available. Which of the following is an important weakness of this study? a. The study should have used a matched pairs design instead of a completely randomized design. b. Because undergraduate students were used as subjects, the results may not generalize to all adults and all situations involving disposable items. c. This is an observational study, not an experiment.
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