For each of the following, determine whether the statistical study described is an observational study or an experiment. Give a brief explanation of your choice.
(a) Can choosing the right music make wine taste better? This question was investigated by a researcher at a university in Edinburgh. Each of 250 volunteers was assigned at random to one of five rooms where they were asked to taste and rate a glass of wine. No music was playing in one of the rooms, and a different style of music was playing in each of the other four rooms. The researcher concluded that cabernet sauvignon is rated more highly when bold music is played than when no music is played.
This is an observational study because there was no random assignment of subjects to experimental conditions.
This is an observational study due to the random assignment of subjects to experimental conditions.
This is an experiment because there was no random assignment of subjects to experimental conditions.
This is an experiment due to the random assignment of subjects to experimental conditions.
(b) The article "Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake in Adulthood and Adolescence and Risk of Early Onset Colorectal Cancer among Women" analyzed data from 95,464 female registered nurses who participated in a prospective health study over a 25-year period. As part of the study, the nurses reported their consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages using food frequency questionnaires every four years. The study found that nurses who consumed more than two servings of sugar-sweetened beverages had more than twice the risk of colon cancer compared to those who consumed less than one sugar-sweetened beverage per week.
This is an observational study because there was no random assignment of subjects to experimental conditions.
This is an observational study due to the random assignment of subjects to experimental conditions.
This is an experiment because there was no random assignment of subjects to experimental conditions.
This is an experiment due to the random assignment of subjects to experimental conditions.
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(a) This is an experiment because there was random assignment of subjects to different rooms with different music conditions. This allows for a comparison between the different groups and a determination of the effect of music on the taste rating of the wine.
(b) This is an observational study because there was no random assignment of subjects to experimental conditions. The researchers analyzed data from a prospective health study, where the participants reported their own consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. The researchers then compared the risk of colon cancer between different consumption groups.
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