Statistic Investigation
Statistics Investigation
Introduction
A new drug was developed that was claimed to lower the cholesterol level in humans. A leading heart specialist was interested to know if the claim made by the company selling the drug was accurate. They enlisted the help of 50 patients. They agreed to take part in an experiment in which 25 patients would be randomly allocated to a group that would take the new drug and the other 25 would take an identical looking pill that was a placebo (a sugar pill that will have no effect).
The statistician who was to analyse the data carried out a random allocation of patients so neither the patients nor the doctor researching this situation knew who was taking the drug and who was taking the placebo.
All participants …show more content…
Suggest one way the statistician could choose the sample of 50 patients, given that the specialist has access to about 850 patients who have cholesterol levels that the specialist considers to be high. Give reasons for your choice.
One way that the statistician could choose the sample of 50 patients is through random sampling. This is one of the most effective options, because a sample of 50 is too small to effectively use other methods such as stratified random sampling or cluster sampling. Since there is access to a population of 850 people, a systematic sample is unnecessary. Having a random sample means that there is a very low possibility of bias, and it is also a very easy sampling technique to use, minimising cost and effort for the researcher.
2. The experiment is said to be a “double blind” experiment. Undertake some research to investigate what this term means and relate your answer to this experiment.
This experiment is a double blind experiment, which means that participants are separated into groups, one taking the real medicine, and the other the placebo pills. However, neither the participants nor the researchers would know who is taking which drugs, only which group they are in. This has the advantage of minimising bias in the experiment, in order to accurately determine the effect of the medicine.
Part …show more content…
The line of best fit for cholesterol medicine 1 had an r2 value of exactly one when using an exponential line of best fit. Since the r2 value is exactly 1, the equation for the line of best fit perfectly matches the results.
The line of best fit for cholesterol medicine 2 again had an r2 value of exactly one when using an exponential line of best fit, which means that the line of best fit perfectly correlates with the results.
The line of best fit for cholesterol medicine 3 had an r2 value of exactly one when using a quintic line of best fit, however, this equation was very complex, so a much simpler cubic function was used for the line of best fit. The r2 value for the cubic function was 0.9998, which is almost perfect correlation, so this very minor loss in accuracy was deemed an acceptable tradeoff for a much simpler equation.
• Discuss the options to help advise the surgeon of the medicine to prescribe the patient.
All medicines reduced the patient’s cholesterol to within the acceptable range between 3-4.5 cholesterol units sometime within the six week trial period, however, each medicine did so at different rates. Cholesterol medicine 3 actually increased the cholesterol levels of the patient in week 2, which may be dangerous and could lead to health complications such as heart disease or strokes, so this medicine will be
Introduction
A new drug was developed that was claimed to lower the cholesterol level in humans. A leading heart specialist was interested to know if the claim made by the company selling the drug was accurate. They enlisted the help of 50 patients. They agreed to take part in an experiment in which 25 patients would be randomly allocated to a group that would take the new drug and the other 25 would take an identical looking pill that was a placebo (a sugar pill that will have no effect).
The statistician who was to analyse the data carried out a random allocation of patients so neither the patients nor the doctor researching this situation knew who was taking the drug and who was taking the placebo.
All participants …show more content…
Suggest one way the statistician could choose the sample of 50 patients, given that the specialist has access to about 850 patients who have cholesterol levels that the specialist considers to be high. Give reasons for your choice.
One way that the statistician could choose the sample of 50 patients is through random sampling. This is one of the most effective options, because a sample of 50 is too small to effectively use other methods such as stratified random sampling or cluster sampling. Since there is access to a population of 850 people, a systematic sample is unnecessary. Having a random sample means that there is a very low possibility of bias, and it is also a very easy sampling technique to use, minimising cost and effort for the researcher.
2. The experiment is said to be a “double blind” experiment. Undertake some research to investigate what this term means and relate your answer to this experiment.
This experiment is a double blind experiment, which means that participants are separated into groups, one taking the real medicine, and the other the placebo pills. However, neither the participants nor the researchers would know who is taking which drugs, only which group they are in. This has the advantage of minimising bias in the experiment, in order to accurately determine the effect of the medicine.
Part …show more content…
The line of best fit for cholesterol medicine 1 had an r2 value of exactly one when using an exponential line of best fit. Since the r2 value is exactly 1, the equation for the line of best fit perfectly matches the results.
The line of best fit for cholesterol medicine 2 again had an r2 value of exactly one when using an exponential line of best fit, which means that the line of best fit perfectly correlates with the results.
The line of best fit for cholesterol medicine 3 had an r2 value of exactly one when using a quintic line of best fit, however, this equation was very complex, so a much simpler cubic function was used for the line of best fit. The r2 value for the cubic function was 0.9998, which is almost perfect correlation, so this very minor loss in accuracy was deemed an acceptable tradeoff for a much simpler equation.
• Discuss the options to help advise the surgeon of the medicine to prescribe the patient.
All medicines reduced the patient’s cholesterol to within the acceptable range between 3-4.5 cholesterol units sometime within the six week trial period, however, each medicine did so at different rates. Cholesterol medicine 3 actually increased the cholesterol levels of the patient in week 2, which may be dangerous and could lead to health complications such as heart disease or strokes, so this medicine will be