Question

Experimental design help?

Answer 1

For each of the following situations, identify the experimental units (or subjects),
the factor(s), the treatment (s) and the response variable.

Answer 2

A manufacturer of food products uses heat to seal their food inside of
plastic bags. The manufacturer is curious about the effect of the
temperature on the strength of the seal. Researchers seal 20 plastic bags at 220 degrees Fahrenheit,20 plastic bags at 240 degrees Fahrenheit,20 plastic bags at 260 degrees Fahrenheit,20 plastic bags at 280 degrees Fahrenheit,and 20 plastic bags at 300 degrees Fahrenheit. They then test the strength of the bags.

Answer 3

@Michele_Laino

Answer 4

I think that the experimental factor can be the temperature \(T\)

Answer 5

and the response variable is the strength \(S\). So we can think \(S\) as a function of \(T\):
\(S=f(T)\)

Answer 6

ok, what would the treatment be?

Answer 7

im thinking maybe the different bags

Answer 8

I think there are another treatment, namely the heating treatment

Answer 9

oops.. there is*

Answer 10

ohhhh thats a good idea.

Answer 11

maybe the experimental factor is the different food? can the experimental factor and treatment be the same thing?

Answer 12

yes! another experimental factor can be represented by the differents food.
Experimental factor and treatments are differents thing, since experimental factor can be considered as variable of our experiment, whereas a treatment is a way in order to perform such experiment

Answer 13

oh! cool..

Answer 14

i have a few more.

Answer 15

maybe i will get them ha!

Answer 16

ok!

Answer 17

Many years ago, some doctors administered medication to the patients
themselves, as opposed to using a pharmacist. One curious yet unethical doctor
decided to start giving all his patients sugar pills in place of the actual medication.
To his surprise, many of his patients actually had their symptoms vanish despite
not getting the actual medication. Explain how this might happen.

Answer 18

same rules apply

Answer 19

i think the experimental factor are the patients, the treatment are the pills and sugar pills and the response variable im not sure about

Answer 20

I think that the response variable can be the absence or the presence of the symptoms, namely it is a dichotomous response variable

Answer 21

ok.. is the factor and the experimental subject the same thing? i dont think that was covered in the 1st problem.... im thinking they might be the same thing

Answer 22

I don't think so!
As I wrote before, the experimental factors can be viewed as variables entity, whereas the treatments can be viewed as ways in order to perform an experiment.
Furthermore, I think that the response variables are related to the experimental factors, once that the treatments are fixed, by the principle of causality

Answer 23

oh..

Answer 24

so would you agree that my statement are correct for the 2nd question? im not very good at math.. at all. haha

Answer 25

yes! I agree! :)

Answer 26

oh, i changed, the experimental subjects are the patients, treatment is the sugar pill, the factor is the medication and the response variable is the presence of the symptoms

Answer 27

o looked up in the lesson hat i needed to find the experimental subject, and the factor

Answer 28

ok!

Answer 29

maybe the factor and treatment is like a placebo..

Answer 30

yes! I think so

Answer 31

better is to say that the \(treatment\) only is like a placebo

Answer 32

ohh yeah.

Answer 33

A professor wants to determine whether performance in a statistics class can be
influenced by the expe
ctation of success.
He will be teaching 9 sections of
statistics over the next two years. He wants to tell the students in some sections
that “females perform better in statistics than males.” In some other sections, he
wants to say, “males perform better
in statistics than females.” Design an
experiment that uses both treatment groups and control groups.

Answer 34

ok i think i have to make and experiment. for this one.. I have one more question after this and then ill stop being annoying :D

Answer 35

I think for the controlled group could be both the good males and females, and see if there scores are close. the treatment group, he could take good males and bad females into one section, and good females and bad males into another. That way he can see if his statement is correct. He could see if the 3 groups have close scores, and for teh treatment groups he can see which gender scored a higher score.

Answer 36

im not sure xD

Answer 37

I think that it can be a good solution

Answer 38

ok!

Answer 39

ok last one

Answer 40

Do SAT prep courses really help improve your test results? Design an experiment
to answer this question. Suppose you have 200 subjects to work with.

Answer 41

im not really sure how to go at this one.

Answer 42

maybe if i divide 100 of them into a group that take SAT Prep courses and the other 100 into a plain group and see if the scores are better in the SAT group or not.

Answer 43

maybe have 50 in one group for the SAT prep, 50 in a plan group, then 100 in a group, that are 50 sat kids and 50 plan course kids. The control group could be the 50/50 and then the treatment could be the 100?? lol

Answer 44

here we have 200 subjects as the experimental factors, andwecan divide such group of 200 subjects, into 2 subgroups. To one of those subgroups, we give a SAT course, and to the other we don't give a SAT course. So the treatment is the SAT course to one subgroup only. Finally, we establish a reference score, such that if the SAT course improves the test results then the average score obtained by the subgroup which has attended such SAT course will be higher than the reference score, and the average score of the sugroup which doesn't attended to the SAT course is lower than that reference score. Now the test is positive if the average score of the subgroup which attended the SAT course is higher to the reference score and the average score of the subgroup which doesn't attended the SAT course is lower than the reference score, and is negative in other cases

Answer 45

oops.. and we can...

Answer 46

thank you so much for your help! its confusing but i got it :)

Answer 47

:)