Q 96. A report in a medical journal no... [FREE SOLUTION]

91影视

The Practice of Statistics for AP

David Moore,Daren Starnes,Dan Yates

$Math Studyset 91影视 Explanations$ Math

4th Edition 路 809 pages

ISBN: 9781319113339

Chapter 4: Q 96. (page 260)

A report in a medical journal notes that the risk of developing Alzheimer鈥檚 disease among subjects who (voluntarily) regularly took the anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen (the active ingredient in Advil) was about half the risk among those who did not. Is this good evidence that ibuprofen is effective in preventing Alzheimer鈥檚 disease?
(a) Yes, because the study was a randomized, comparative experiment.
(b) No, because the effect of ibuprofen is confounded with the placebo effect.
(c) Yes, because the results were published in a reputable professional journal.
(d) No, because this is an observational study. An experiment would be needed to confirm (or not
confirm) the observed effect.
(e) Yes, because a 50% reduction can鈥檛 happen just by chance.

Short Answer

Expert verified

The correct option is (d).

Step by step solution

Given information

According to a study published in a medical publication, participants who (voluntarily) used the anti-inflammatory medicine ibuprofen (the active ingredient in Advil) on a regular basis had nearly half the risk of acquiring Alzheimer's disease as those who did not.

Concept

Individuals are purposely subjected to a treatment in order to measure their responses in an experiment.

Explanation

Because this is an observational study, option (d) is the proper answer for this exercise: no, this is not good proof that ibuprofen is useful in preventing Alzheimer's disease. To corroborate the reported effect, an experiment would be required. While experiments can prove cause and effect when done correctly, observational studies virtually never can since there are simply too many complicating variables. Only a correlation between the explanatory and response variables may be shown in observational research.