In: Statistics and Probability
a) In an experiment, subjects respond differently after they receive a treatment, even if the treatment is neutral. A neutral treatment that has no "real" effect on the dependent variable is called a placebo, and a subject's positive response to a placebo is called the placebo effect.
b) A double-blind study is one in which neither the participants nor the experimenters know who is receiving a particular treatment. This procedure is utilized to prevent bias in research results.
c) In statistics, a confounder (also confounding variable, confounding factor, or lurking variable) is a variable that influences both the dependent variable and independent variable, causing a spurious association. Confounding is a causal concept, and as such, cannot be described in terms of correlations or associations.
d) In statistics, the response variable is the variable you are measuring and trying to explain. When you have a response variable, it is always paired with one or more explanatory variables. The explanatory variable(s) drives change in the responsevariable