Problem Solving and Data Analysis

18 – Data Collections and Conclusions

Day 1
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 Discussion from Warm-Up
1. A company creates a new headache medicine and needs to determine if it is more effective than the leading
brand of headache medicine. How can the company test to see if the new medicine is more effective?

The company could gather people who suffer from headaches and split them into two groups. One group will
get the new medicine, and the other will get the existing medicine. The medicine from whichever group has
more headache relief will be declared more effective.

2. A news station wants to know which issue is most important to voters when deciding for whom to vote. How
can the news station obtain this data?

The news station could contact registered voters and ask them what issues are most important. It might not be
feasible to ask all registered voters, so the station should ask a smaller group of people that represents the
larger group of all voters.

3. A group of scientists in southern Illinois wants to know what kind of environment (grasslands, woodlands, or
marshlands) is home to more species of frogs. How can the group accomplish this task?

The scientists could visit the various environment types and count how many species of frogs are found in each.
 Discussion from Warm-Up
1. A company creates a new headache medicine and needs to determine if it is more effective than the leading
brand of headache medicine. How can the company test to see if the new medicine is more effective?

The company could gather people who suffer from headaches and split them into two groups. One group will
get the new medicine, and the other will get the existing medicine. The medicine from whichever group has
more headache relief will be declared more effective.

This method for obtaining data is called a controlled experiment.

The company split the people into two groups and gives each group a different medicine. The different
medicines are called treatments.

A controlled experiment must impose a treatment on the participants. Because a treatment is imposed, this is
the only way to show a cause and effect relationship.

The only way to show causation is with a well designed, controlled experiment.
 Discussion from Warm-Up
2. A news station wants to know which issue is most important to voters when deciding for whom to vote. How
can the news station obtain this data?

The news station could contact registered voters and ask them what issues are most important. It might not be
feasible to ask all registered voters, so the station should ask a smaller group of people that represents the
larger group of all voters.

This method for obtaining data is called a sample survey.

The station asked a smaller group of people their opinion and used the smaller group to represent the larger
group.

The smaller group is called the sample and the larger group is called the population.

Remember from before, when using a sample to represent the larger population, there will be some kind of
margin of error associated with it.
 Discussion from Warm-Up
3. A group of scientists in southern Illinois wants to know what kind of environment (grasslands, woodlands, or
marshlands) is home to more species of frogs. How can the group accomplish this task?

The scientists could visit the various environment types and count how many species of frogs are found in each.

This method for obtaining data is called an observational study.

The group of scientists did not interfere with the wildlife at all; all they did was observe.

The scientists did not visit a smaller sample of one environment and use that data to predict the value for a
larger population.

The scientists were only interested in counting the number of existing frog species.
In order to determine whether children who have just watched cartoons will perform better on
cognitive tasks than children who have not just watched cartoons, researchers randomly divided 60
preschoolers into two groups. For nine minutes, one group watched a rapid-paced cartoon, while the
other group did not watch anything and did a quiet activity. They then administered standardized
tests to determine the immediate impact of the children’s previous nine minutes of activity. Which of
the following is the best description of this type of research design?

Did the researchers Did the researchers ask Did the researchers
impose a treatment? a smaller group? watch and record data?
Yes No No

A. Observational study B. Sample Survey

C. Controlled experiment D. None of these

A researcher representing a city government wants to measure public opinion about
recycling by asking 1,000 randomly selected residents a series of questions on the
subject. Which of the following is the best description of the research design for this
study?

Did the researchers Did the researchers ask Did the researchers
impose a treatment? a smaller group? watch and record data?

No Yes No

A. Observational study B. Sample Survey

C. Controlled experiment D. None of these

The graph shown below describes the modes of transportation used by U.S.
workers to travel to work for the years 2008-2012 combined.
Did the researchers
No
impose a treatment?

Did the researchers ask

No
a smaller group?

Did the researchers

Yes
watch and record data?

Which of the following is the best description of the research design for this study?

A. Observational study B. Sample Survey

C. Controlled experiment D. None of these

A horticulturist is interested in growing a crop of tomatoes without soil. He wants to
compare two methods: water culture (hydroponics) and sand culture. He will
compare the rates of growth, size, and quality of the resulting plants. Which of the
following research designs is most likely to produce valid results?

Did the researchers Did the researchers ask Did the researchers
impose a treatment? a smaller group? watch and record data?

Yes No No

A. Observational study B. Sample Survey

C. Controlled experiment D. None of these

In a famous study on the role of practice in the acquisition of expert performance, psychologists
compared the amount of time spent on solitary practice, based on diaries and retrospective
estimates, for four groups of violinists: professional violinists, the best expert violinists, good expert
violinists, and the least accomplished expert violinists (lesser experts).

Did the researchers

impose a treatment? No

Did the researchers ask

No
a smaller group?

Did the researchers

Yes
watch and record data?

Which of the following is the best description of

the research design for this study?

A. Observational study
B. Sample Survey
C. Controlled experiment
D. None of these
In the year 1975, Janet Starkes devised an “occlusion” test to determine whether there are differences between
the elite and novice women volleyball players. Players of different levels were asked to look at slides for a
fraction of a second showing women volleyball players in action. Starkes then asked the players whether the
ball was in the frame or not in the frame. She found an enormous difference between elite volleyball players
and novices: elite players could determine in a fraction of a second whether the ball was inside the frame or
not. This was not the case for novice players. Which of the following is the best description of this type of
research design?

A. An observational study, a study in which investigators observe subjects and measure variables of interest
without assigning treatments to the subjects.

B. A controlled experiment, a study in which an investigator separates subjects into a control group that does
not receive a treatment and an experimental group that receives a treatment, and then observes the effect of the
treatment on the experimental group.

C. A sample survey, a study that obtains data from a subset of a population, usually through a questionnaire or
interview, in order to estimate population attributes.

D. None of the above