ASSIGNMENT#01 COURSE:QRM AREEBA AHMED BHUTTO SP19-MBAG-0075

DATE:6TH OCT’19

Difference between RER- muscle metabolism, produced in men who have taken
caffeine and men who have not taken caffeine
A study used eighteen male volunteers who each underwent arm exercise tests. Nine of
the men were randomly selected to take a capsule containing pure caffeine one hour
before the test. The other men received a placebo capsule. During each exercise the
subject's respiratory exchange ratio (RER) was measured. (RER is the ratio of
CO2 produced to O2 consumed and is an indicator of whether energy is being obtained
from carbohydrates or fats).
The two populations being compared are “men who have not taken caffeine” and “men
who have taken caffeine”. If caffeine has no effect on RER the two sets of data can be
regarded as having come from the same population.

The results were as follows:

RER(%)

Placebo Caffeine

105 96

119 99

100 94

97 89

96 96

101 93

94 88

95 105

98 88

Mean 100.56 94.22

SD 7.70 5.61

The means show that, on average, caffeine appears to have altered RER from about
100.6% to 94.2%, a change of 6.4%. However, there is a great deal of variation
between the data values in both samples and considerable overlap between them. So is
the difference between the two means simply due to sampling variation, or does the
ASSIGNMENT#01 COURSE:QRM AREEBA AHMED BHUTTO SP19-MBAG-0075
DATE:6TH OCT’19

data provide evidence that caffeine does, on average, reduce RER? The p-value
obtained from an independent samples t-test answers this question.
The t-test tests the null hypothesis that the mean of the caffeine treatment equals the
mean of the placebo versus the alternative hypothesis that the mean of caffeine
treatment is not equal to the mean of the placebo treatment.
Computer output obtained for the RER data gives the sample means and the 95%
confidence interval for the difference between the means.
Computer output
The Independent Samples t-test in SPSS

Note: The difference in signs obtained in the two outputs is because one calculation
considers caffeine – placebo values, and the other placebo – caffeine. It makes no
difference to the conclusions of the test, ie p = 0.063.
Assumptions underlying the independent sample t-test
For the independent samples t-test it is assumed that both samples come from normally
distributed populations with equal standard deviations (or variances).
Results & Interpretation
The p-value is 0.063 and, therefore, the difference between the two means is not
statistically significantly different from zero at the 5% level of significance. There is an
estimated change of 6.4% (SE = 3.17%). However, there is insufficient evidence (p =
0.063) to suggest that caffeine does change the mean RER.