What is it?
The Great Sausagecam bust. After a group breakfast in DFB, researchers focused a motion-sensitive camera on a plate of leftover sausages in the break room. They discovered that 90% of the sausages were eaten by 10% of the faculty. This type of research would be classified as (observational/experimental)
Observational! (The primary offender being Dr. Tim Filzen)
An esteemed Department Head recently peed for America 3 weeks in a row, after a long period of not being tested. Is this evidence that urine testing is nonrandom?
No! Patterns like this are common in random sequences.
In a study of cataract surgery, each subject has surgery on one, randomly selected eye. Is this single-blinding?
Are you kidding me?
Dr. Bennet Omalu achieved fame for his research on CTE brain injury among football players. He (and others since) found evidence of CTE among 177/202 brains of deceased players who had requested postmortem examination.
These studies have a problem - what is it?
No comparison to CTE in people who did not play football!
This devoted dog lover appeared with his pup in the Pueblo Chili Festival's Chihuahua Parade in October 2023.
Who is the Noydster?
In testing the pfizer vaccine for covid, researchers assigned 43,661 volunteers to either receive the an mRNA-based vaccine or a shot of saline, then monitored the groups to determine the rates of covid illness. What kind of study is this?
Experimental!
After a sausage-truck explosion, a researcher testing the effect of therapeutic touch assigns subjects to treatment or control on the basis of whether they have meaty bits on their clothing.
Is that random?
No, because ....
Single and double blinding is a standard of science that is intended to control for the ....
Placebo effect.
Experimental studies have treatment groups and control groups. What's the difference between them?
This frog flips crack houses.
Who is the Tubber?
In a disgusting study of mate choice, researchers had college women sniff the tee-shirts of frat boys who had worn the shirts without using deodorant for 3 days. The women classified the shirts as nasty, neutral, or kinda good in a weird way. What kind of study is this?
Observational. (And they found that the women preferred the scent of men who differed genetically in loci related to immunity.)
Researchers studying the effect of eating Vienna sausages on IQ want to control for regional differences in acceptance of Vienna sausage as a food source (southerners "yes", everyone else "what is a Vienna sausage?"). They separate southerners from all others, then randomly assign within each group:
All southerners --> random assignment to treatment or control, using a random number generator.
All nonsoutherners --> same as above.
Does this count as random?
Yes, because each subject still has an equal chance of falling into the Treatment or Control.
In a study of the effectiveness of knee surgery, subjects are randomly assigned to two groups by researchers who have no direct interaction with the subjects:
- those who receive the standard surgical procedure
- those who receive an incision to produce a scar, but no additional surgery.
Both groups are under general anesthesia for the same length of time. The surgeon follows up with patients to assess their postoperative state.
Is this a double-blinded study?
No - b/c ....
In a test of dry needling for shoulder pain, the treatment group receives needling in the affected area; the control group receives standard physical therapy.
Good design or bad design?
Bad! Why?
This frog responded to racist comments from a student by having the cadet kicked out of the Academy.
Who is the Kuhnslayer?
Agent Orange, a herbicide used extensively during the Vietnam war, has been blamed for several physical disabilities of veterans. To investigate this, researchers measured the blood levels of Agent Orange in 646 ground combat veterans who served in Vietnam, and compared them to 97 veterans who were not stationed in Vietnam. This is kinda like an experiment, except that ....
This is an example of a _______.
There is no random assignment. (BTW, no difference was found between the groups.)
Random assignment to treatment groups is a standard of science because it controls the problem of ....
...group differences that may bias results.
A former frog-fac who was known for being irrational used radio-collars to study the movement of deer on USAFA, hoping to reduce the number of deer-vehicle collisions. Collar #7 seemed to be problematic - after three deer in a row with collar 7 were killed by mountain lions, he altered the setup. How did he resolve the problem?
He repainted the collar with a different number.
A naturopath diagnoses patients' health by reading their "auras", zones of color that emanate from the body. Red bad, blue good.
In designing a study to test this person, what is the cause-effect hypothesis?
Different health conditions cause different auras.
This faculty frog hopped into legend by cranking out 15 overhand pullups in less than 15 seconds
Who is Kim (the Ripper) Little?
To demonstrate the true shape of the earth, flerfers shot a laser beam 21 miles across a bay, and observers on the other side - who should have been below the curve of the earth - were able to see it. This was an observational study.
What would an experimental test look like?
Impossible to do! No control group available.
To minimize differences between treatment groups, the best approach is to use random assignment together with robust ____ _____.
Sample size!
In medical research, the acronym "RCT" describes the gold standard for research. What do the letters stand for? (Hint: "T" stands for "trial")
Randomized
Controlled
Trial
Design a test that would determine whether the neuropath can truly see auras.
Preferably an experiment, since it's a cause-effect hypothesis.
Treatment - body present
Control - body absent
This faculty frog once entertained a group of female high-school gymnasts by hanging upside-down from a balance beam with his naughty bits fully exposed.
Who is the Dahle-Lama?