Producing Data: Experiments Vs. Surveys

Chapter 5

Discussion Example 1

One school board member noticed that students in band tended to be in the top 25% of their school. She compiled a list from each high school’s band director and took a random sample of 25 students from each school’s band.

She then took a random sample of 25 students from each high school that wasn’t in band. She found a slightly higher average G.P.A. of student’s in band.

Discussion example 1

Will this study give evidence that being in

band causes an increase in a students G.P.A?

Will this study help her generalize that student’s in band tend to have a slightly higher G.P.A. than students not in band?

Vocabulary from example 1

Observational study a study based on data collected from individuals that

meet a determined criteria ie study or survey

Lurking variable an outside factor that is not the explanatory nor

response variable prevents causal relationships from being established in

observational studies associated with observational studies, so they are

difficult to minimize

Discussion Example 2

Another school board member is surprised the increase is so slight. First, he emails each band director and asks for a list of 30 students. He then accesses each high school’s roster, takes the first 40 listed striking any student’s name he already has. He found the average G.P.A. of student’s in band to be more significant than the first study.

Discussion example 2

Will this study give evidence that being in

band causes an increase in a students G.P.A?

Will this study help her generalize that student’s in band tend to have a slightly higher G.P.A. than students not in band?

Discussion example 3

Walmart is considering buying a gasoline additive that is suppose to improve gas mileage. They found 30 employees in Texas that drive the same car. Fifteen employees are randomly selected to receive the additive, the remaining fifteen are given a bottle with just gas. Each employee is given a set route around the city to drive. The gas mileage is recorded by an onboard computer which shows the additive gives the driver 12% better gas mileage.

Discussion example 3

Will this study give evidence that using the additive will give a car better gas mileage?

Vocabulary from example 3

Experiment a planned study where deliberate conditions are imposed to see

how the response variable will change

Confounding variable a variable associated (noncausal) with the explanatory variable

that affects the response variable in some way prevents us from knowing causation associated with experiments

Lurking versus Confounding

Observation study

x y

z

Lurking

Experiment

x y

z

Confounding

??

Randomized comparative experiments

Goal of an experiment:

collect statistically significant evidence for a cause-and-effect relationship.

Principles of Experimental Design

comparison minimizes effects of confounding variables allowing effects of treatments to be better evaluated

1. Control: using comparison ensures that outside factors operate equally

on all groups

control groups allow us to accurately assess the change in the response variable

Principles of Experimental Design

1. Control:

2. Randomization: use of impersonal chance in order to equalize

unanticipated factors so that groups should be similar in all respects.

homogenous groups reduce variability allowing better assessment of treatments

Principles of Experimental Design

1. Control:

2. Randomization:

3. Replication:

perform the experiment on as many subjects to reduce chance variation in the results

Homework

Packet p. 92

1) Determine if experiment or

observation study/survey

2) If study/survey, identify sampling method

and one source of bias

Experimental Design Examples

Read each design example and write a description on how each experiment should be run.

Key terms: groups, treatments, comparison, randomization

Completely Randomized Design

Random Allocation

Group 1

15 babies

Group 2

15 babies

Treatment 1

Her product

Treatment 2

Competitor’s

Compare weight gain

Babies will be numbered 01 to 30. Using a random number table, the first 15 selected will be in Group 1 with the remaining placed in group 2. Each babies’ weight will be measured in pounds and compared.

Block Design

Subjects

African American men

White men

Random assignment

Random assignment

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Treatment 1 Calcium

Treatment 1 Calcium

Treatment 2 Placebo

Treatment 2 Placebo

Compare blood pressure

All African American men will be assigned a random number. Half themen who have the smallest numbers will be assigned group 1, the halfwith the largest numbers will be assigned group 2. The process will repeatfor the white men. The reduction in blood pressure will be compared.

Matched pair Design

Random Allocation

Group 1

Group 2

Treatment 1

left hand

Treatment 2

right hand

Compare

difference

A coin will be flipped to decide which hand will be measured first by each participant. Heads will squeeze the left hand first, tails will squeeze the right hand first. The different in the pounds on the scale will be compared.

Treatment 1

left hand

Treatment 2

right hand

Calcium experiment revisted

What potential problems might be have because we started with random assignment?

How should we alter our experiment?

Random Assignment

Group 1

Group 2

Treatment 1

Calcium

Treatment 2

Placebo

Compare blood pressure

Block Design

All participants

African American men

White men

Completely randomized experiment

Completely randomized experiment

Improving the Design

A block is a group of experimental units or subjects that are known before the experiment to be similar in some way that is expected to affect the response to the treatments.

Block design has the same rationale as a stratified random sample.

Blocks allow us to reduce the amount of variation to improve the accuracy of our conclusions by creating homogeneous groups.

single blind versus double blind

Improving the Design

In a matched pair design, each subject in the experiment will receive two (and only two) treatments.

The order that each subject receives both treatments is randomly selected to preserve the important aspect of randomization.