Question

1. "Dr. Meyer wants to study the effect of Kava root on insomnia. She recruits 150 people who experience long term insomnia (more than 4 months experiencing insomnia) and divides them into two groups. One group of 75 individuals takes 125 mg of kavalactones one hour before bedtime. The other group of 75 individuals takes a placebo every day. For the duration of the study, the two groups follow two common guidelines: no added sugars or caffeine intake after 12pm and no screen time an hour before bedtime. Dr. Meyer follows the individuals during four weeks. She collects data on sleep patterns which include the number of hours slept each night and a scale of difficulty to fall asleep scored 1 to 5 (1 = feel asleep right away; 5 = more than one hour awake in bed)."

Answer Following:

What is the independent variable?

What is the dependent variable?

What is the experimental group?

Which is/are Dr. Meyer’s controlled variable(s)?

2. "“If Vitamin C supplementation shortens the length of the common cold, then adults taking 1g of Vitamin C a day will recover from the common cold faster than adults who aren’t taking Vitamin C supplementation.”

Is the following statement a prediction or a theory? How do you know?

Write a possible hypothesis for this experiment.

Answer 1

Research is a process of steps used to collect and analyse information to increase our understanding of a topic or issue. The research given in the question is an experimental research which is designed for establishing causal relationships. It is begining with a question concerning relationship between two variables viz., kava root and insomnia. Simultaneously, the researcher will develop a hypothesis to state the nature of of expected relationship.

1(a)Independent variables are also known as the manipulated, experimental or treatment variables. They become the cause of another variable. It is the variable manipulated by the researcher in the experiment which is kava root (kavalactone).

1(b)Dependable variables are also known as the outcome or response variables. The dependent variables changes in response to change in independent variable. For example, sleep is the dependent variable in given question.

1(c)Experimental group is that group in the experiment which gets the variable /treatment being tested in the experiment. For example, a dose of 125 mg of kava root (kavalactone) was tested on 75 people out of 150 people.

1(d)Controlled group is that group in the experiment which doesn't get the variable /treatment being tested in the experiment. It is used as a benchmark /reference how the other tested subject are affected compared to controlled group.

1(e) Prediction refer to a statement, which tells or estimates something, that will occur in future. It is purely guess and may or may not be based on facts. It doesn't provide an explaination and fails to depict relationship between variables.

In science, Theory refers to  a well-substantiated explanation for a set of verified, proven hypotheses. It is based on Evidence, verification, repeated testing, wide scientific consensus. It's purpose is to explain why a large set of observations are consistently made in nature. Further, it is based on a very wide set of data tested under various circumstance.

Therefore, the above given statement is a prediction, however, provided with enough explaination, verification, repeated testing on a wide scale, it can become a theory.

1(f) The possible hypotheis for the experiment can be "the results of the experimental group will differ significantly from those of a control group, and that the difference will be caused by the independent variable (or variables) under investigation which is kava root(kavalactone).

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