Observational Studies and Experiments Observational Study Experiment Researchers

Observational Studies and Experiments

Observational Study Experiment Researchers don’t assign choices. They only observe what is already happening. Researchers manipulate factors. They create a treatment and compare the responses.

Video Clip – Observational Study vs Experiment

Observational Study or Experiment? Over a 4 -month period, among 30 people with bipolar disorder, patients who were given a high dose of omega 3 fats from fish oil improved more than those given a placebo. EXPERIMENT The leg muscles of men aged 60 to 75 were 50% to 80% stronger after they participated in a 16 -week highintensity resistance training program twice a week. OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

Observational Study or Experiment? Among a group of disabled women aged 65 and older who were tracked for several years, those who had vitamin B 12 deficiency were twice as likely to suffer severe depression as those who did not. OBSERVATIONAL STUDY Some gardeners prefer to use nonchemical methods to control insect pests in their gardens. Researchers have designed two kinds of traps and want to know which design is more effective. They randomly choose 10 locations in a garden and place one of each type of trap in each location. After a week, they count the number of bugs in each trap. EXPERIMENT

Observational Study Retrospective: Prospective: Subjects are selected and then their past conditions are observed Subjects are followed to observe future outcomes

Experimental Design: 1)Control Make conditions as similar as possible for all treatment groups 2)Randomize Experimental units (or subjects) need to be assigned to treatments at random 3)Replicate The outcome of one subject is not enough to be called data 4)Block (if necessary) Group similar individuals together and then randomize within these blocks

Random Allocation Group 2 Group 1 Treatment 1 Experimen t Compare Treatment 2

A Step-by-Step Experiment Plan: State what you want to know. I want to know whether tomato plants grown with Opti. Gro yield jucier, tastier tomatoes than plants raised in otherwise similar circumstances but without the fertilizer.

A Step-by-Step Experiment Response: Specify the response variable I’ll evaluate the juiciness and taste of the tomatoes by asking a panel of judges to rate them on a scale from 1 to 7 in juiciness and in taste.

A Step-by-Step Experiment Treatments: Specify the factor levels and the treatments The factor is fertilizer (Opti. Gro). I’ll grow tomatoes at three different factor levels: some with no fertilizer, some with half the specified amount of Opti. Gro, and some with the full dose of Opti. Gro. These are three treatments.

A Step-by-Step Experimental Units: Specify the experimental units I’ll obtain 24 tomato plants of the same variety from a local garden store.

A Step-by-Step Experimental Design: Control I’ll locate the farm plots near each other so that the plants get similar amounts of sun and rain and experience similar temperatures. I will weed the plots equally and otherwise treat the plants alike.

A Step-by-Step Experimental Design: Replicate I’ll use 8 plants in each treatment group.

A Step-by-Step Experimental Design: Randomly Assign To randomly divide the plants into three groups, first I’ll label the plants with numbers 00 – 23. I’ll look at pairs of digits across a random number table. The first 8 plants identified will go in Group 1, the next 8 in Group 2, and the remaining plants in Group 3.

A Step-by-Step Experimental Design: Make a Picture 24 tomato plants from a garden store Group 1 8 Plants Treatment 1 control Group 2 8 Plants Treatment 2 ½ dose Group 3 8 Plants Treatment 3 Full dose Compare juiciness and tastiness

A Step-by-Step Experiment Specify any other details, including how to measure the response. I will grow the plants until the tomatoes are mature. I’ll harvest the tomatoes when ripe and store them for evaluation. I’ll set up a numerical scale of juiciness and one of tastiness for the taste testers.

A Step-by-Step Experiment Display the Data I will display the results with side-by-side boxplots to compare three treatment groups. I will compare the means of the groups.

A Step-by-Step Experiment Decide of the results are meaningful. If the differences in taste and juiciness among the groups are greater than I would expect by knowing the usual variation among tomatoes, I may be able to conclude that these differences can be attributed to treatment with the fertilizer.

Today’s Assignment: q. READ CHAPTER 13! There is a lot of vocab in this chapter. Be sure to read and take notes from the book.