Question

Please help.....

Answer 1

A researcher is designing an experiment to determine whether the production of amylase increases when a person anticipates eating starchy food. She measures the amount of amylase in the saliva of 10 volunteers who are offered a bowl of pasta and of 10 other volunteers who are offered a bowl of scrambled eggs. In analyzing her data, she finds some variation in the amount of amylase among the samples within each group, but no significant difference in the amount of amylase between the two groups. She concludes that she needs to revise her experimental design and try her experiment again. What would be the best thing she could do to improve her experiment?
Answer
Add at least 30 more volunteers to the group presented with bowls of pasta and keep the number of volunteers in the scrambled egg group the same.
Allow one group of volunteers to smell a bowl of pasta while the other group only thinks about it and then test the amount of amylase produced by the two groups.
Measure the amount of amylase produced at the sight of a cracker by each volunteer who has just eaten a bowl of pasta.
Test the variation in the amount of amylase produced by each individual before and after being presented with a bowl of pasta.

Answer 2

I think it's the last option:Test the variation in the amount of amylase produced by each individual before and after being presented with a bowl of pasta. The first experiment is flawed in that both groups are presented with food. The first option doesn't increase the number in the scrambled egg group so the power of the study isn't increased. The second option : both groups are anticipating food so there might not be much difference. The third: the individuals are now satisfied having eaten so perhaps the sight of a cracker won't make much difference. However the fourth option seems like a proper trial - the anticipation will increase at the sight of the food and so whether the amylase increases will be properly tested. I hope this is clear now