Swedish researchers concluded that viewing and discussing art soothes the soul and helps relieve medical conditions such as high blood pressure and constipation. This conclusion was based on a study in which 15 elderly women gathered once a week to discuss different works of art. The study also included a control group of 15 elderly women who met once a week to discuss their hobbies and interests. At the end of 4 months, the art discussion group was found to have a more positive attitude, to have lower blood pressure, and to use fewer laxatives than the control group. (a) Why would it be important to determine if the researchers assigned the women participating in the study at random to one of the two groups? Assigning women at random satisfies the condi
Swedish researchers concluded that viewing and discussing art soothes the soul and helps relieve medical conditions such as high blood pressure and constipation. This conclusion was based on a study in which 15 elderly women gathered once a week to discuss different works of art. The study also included a control group of 15 elderly women who met once a week to discuss their hobbies and interests. At the end of 4 months, the art discussion group was found to have a more positive attitude, to have lower blood pressure, and to use fewer laxatives than the control group.
(a) Why would it be important to determine if the researchers assigned the women participating in the study at random to one of the two groups?
Assigning women at random satisfies the conditions of a single-blind experiment.
2. Assigning women at random is not important for the study and can be neglected.
3.Assigning women at random ensures that the two groups are comparable.
(b) Explain why you think that the researchers included a control group in this study.
A control group is used to increase the size of the sample.
A control group allows the experiment to be conducted once more if the first attempt failed.
A control group is absolutely unnecessary here.
A control group provides a baseline for comparisons to determine treatment effects.
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