A researcher suspects that a new popular food supplement has substantial negative health effects. What procedure would be most appropriate for a study aimed at clarifying this issue?
A. Recruit volunteers from the local college and randomly assign them to the groups that will and will not consume the supplement.
B. Recruit volunteers through a local radio station and randomly assign them to the groups that will and will not consume the supplement.
C. Recruit volunteers from the shoppers at the local health food store and randomly assign equal numbers of men and women to the groups that will and will not consume the supplement.
D. Recruit volunteers through a local newspaper and assign them to two groups according to whether they have used the supplement or not.
IK
The most appropriate procedure for a study aimed at clarifying the negative health effects of a new popular food supplement would be option A: Recruit volunteers from the local college and randomly assign them to the groups that will and will not consume the supplement.
The most appropriate procedure for a study aimed at clarifying whether a new popular food supplement has substantial negative health effects would be option A: Recruit volunteers from the local college and randomly assign them to the groups that will and will not consume the supplement.
Here's an explanation of why option A is the most appropriate choice:
1. Recruitment of volunteers from the local college: This option ensures that the study participants come from a specific demographic group, which makes it easier to control for variables such as age, lifestyle, and dietary patterns. By recruiting from the local college, the researcher can target a relatively homogeneous group and minimize potential confounding factors.
2. Random assignment of participants: Random assignment is crucial in experimental designs to ensure that each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to either the group that consumes the supplement or the group that does not. Random assignment helps in creating comparable groups and minimizes bias.
By using this procedure, the researcher can carefully control the study conditions and compare the health effects of the food supplement between the two groups. This will provide valuable evidence on whether the supplement has any negative health effects.
Options B, C, and D are less appropriate for the following reasons:
- Option B: Recruiting volunteers through a local radio station might introduce selection bias, as the listeners of a particular radio station may not be representative of the general population. This could potentially impact the generalizability of the study's findings.
- Option C: Recruiting volunteers from the shoppers at the local health food store might introduce bias, as these individuals may already have a predisposition towards using and believing in the benefits of food supplements. This could affect the study's ability to accurately assess the negative health effects of the supplement.
- Option D: Assigning participants to groups based on whether they have used the supplement or not is a non-random assignment. This non-random assignment could potentially introduce confounding factors since individuals who have chosen to use the supplement may differ from those who have not in various ways (e.g., lifestyle, motivations for using the supplement, etc.).