Smithers thinks that a special juice will increase the productivity of workers. He creates two groups of 50 workers each and assigns each group the same task (in this case they are supposed to staple a set of papers). Group A is given the special juice to drink while they work. Group B is not given the special juice. After an hour Smithers counts how many stacks of papers each group has made. Group A make 1,587 stacks Group B made 2,113 stacks. Identify the control group, independent variable, dependent variable, what should smithers conclusion be and how could this experiment be improved
To answer the questions:
1. Control group: The control group in this experiment is Group B, the group that was not given the special juice.
2. Independent variable: The independent variable in this experiment is the special juice. It was given to Group A while Group B did not receive it.
3. Dependent variable: The dependent variable in this experiment is the number of stacks of papers each group made. This is what is being measured to determine the effectiveness of the special juice on productivity.
4. Smithers' conclusion: Based on the experiment's results, Smithers can conclude that the group without the special juice (Group B) made more stacks of papers, indicating higher productivity, compared to the group with the special juice (Group A).
5. How the experiment could be improved: There are a few improvements that could be made to this experiment to ensure better validity and reliability of the results:
a. Random assignment: Instead of simply dividing participants into two groups, it would be better to randomly assign the workers to each group. This helps to avoid potential biases or confounding variables that could affect the results.
b. Larger sample size: Increasing the sample size would provide more reliable and generalizable results. A larger sample size reduces the impact of individual variation and increases the statistical power of the study.
c. Consistency in task complexity: It is important to ensure that the complexity of the task given to both groups is equivalent. This helps to eliminate any potential influence of task difficulty on the results.
d. Double-blind control: To minimize bias, it would be beneficial if both the workers and the person in charge of measuring the stacks of papers were unaware of which group had received the special juice. This double-blind control helps eliminate any subconscious biases in the assessment of productivity.