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Vitamin C for marathon runners An ultramarathon, as you might guess, is a footrace longer than the

26.2 miles of a marathon. Runners commonly develop respiratory infections after an ultramarathon. Will taking 600 milligrams of vitamin C daily reduce those infections? Researchers randomly assigned ultramarathon runners to receive either vitamin C or a placebo. Separately, they also randomly assigned these treatments to a group of nonrunners the same age as the runners. All subjects were watched for 14 days after the big race to see if infections developed.

(a) What type of experimental design did the researchers use? Why is this design preferable in this setting? Give one reason.

(b) Explain the purpose of the random assignment.

(c) The report of the study said: “Sixty-eight percent of the runners in the placebo group reported the development of symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection after the race; this was significantly

Short Answer

Expert verified

Part (a) Because a sample from each group could be selected and then all the selected groups would be equally shown in the chosen sample.

Part (b) It would be applied to reduce the bias and affect the result.

Part (c) The observed difference is excessive.

Step by step solution

01

Part (a) Step 1: Given information

A footrace longer than the 26.2 miles of a long-distance race is known as an ultra-long-distance race.

02

Part (a) Step 2: Concept

The random assignment method assigns subjects to treatments based on chance. Before the treatments are applied, random assignment establishes treatment groups that are comparable (except for chance variance). In experiments, randomization and comparison combined prevent bias or systematic favoritism.

03

Part (a) Step 3: Explanation

A footrace longer than the 26.2 miles of a long-distance race is known as an ultra-long-distance race. After ultra-long-distance races, sprinters frequently get respiratory problems, thus scientists randomly assigned ultra-long-distance runners to receive either nutritional C or a placebo treatment. Stratified random samples are samples taken from different strata in a diverse population using simple random sampling. Because a sample from each group might be selected and then all of the selected groups would be equally represented in the chosen sample, the stratified random sample sampling method should be utilized.

04

Part (b) Step 1: Explanation

Random assignment is mostly used to form groups and reduce bias in the final outcome. As a result, it would be used to eliminate prejudice and influence the outcome.

05

Part (c) Step 1: Explanation

The placebo rate of 68 percent is much greater than the vitamin rate of 33 percent, implying that the observed difference is excessive.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Effects of TV advertising Figure 4.3displays the six treatments for a two-factor experiment on TV advertising. Suppose we have 150students who are willing to serve as subjects. Describe how you would randomly assign the subjects to the treatments

(a) using slips of paper.

(b) using Table D.

(c) using technology.

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(b) No, because the effect of ibuprofen is confounded with the placebo effect.

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