Dr. Ramirez has decided to further investigate his hypothesis that chronic expos

Question

Dr. Ramirez has decided to further investigate his hypothesis that chronic exposure to coal dust causes cancer. He asks the managers of the mine to distribute a questionnaire he has developed. Workers will fill out the questionnaire anonymously. The questionnaire asks the workers about how long they have worked at the mine and how many hours a day they are exposed to coal dust. In addition, he asks them their gender and age. Dr. Ramirez also surveys the office workers at the company’s headquarters who are not exposed to coal dust. Using the scenario above, state the model, independent and dependent variables, and the negative control. In addition, list some of the other extraneous factors that Dr. Ramirez should account for in order to make valid conclusions.

Explanation / Answer

Model: Since cancers are the leading cause of death in the world. It is highly prevalent among the coal miners who are in constant exposure to the fine dust of coals. For this a survey is being conducted by the Dr. Ramirez on the coal miners and also on the office workers. These office workers which are not exposed to the coal dust serve as base level for comparing the coal miners which are exposed to the coal dust. For this a questionnaire has been developed which includes various details like gender and age of workers, number of hours they are exposed to the mine and which are filled anonymously by the workers.

Dependent and independent variable: Independent variables are those which are manipulated in order to obtain the dependent variable. In this the independent variables are the duration the workers has been working in the mines in years, months etc and how long the workers are exposed to the mine daily. Dependent variables are the workers having lung cancer or the severity of the disease due to these exposures.

Negative control: It is the group in the experiment in which no response is expected. Here the office workers who works at the company's headquarters and are not exposed to the coal dust. They serve as baseline for comparison with the workers at risk due to coal dust.

Extraneous factors: these are the undesirable factors which influence the result of the experiment. Here extraneous factors like medical history of the family of workers, diet, lifestyle, immunity of the workers against the risk which can be included to get the valid conclusions.

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