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ight Eating It is well-nown that. lack of sleep impairs concentration and alertn

ID: 3354551 • Letter: I

Question

ight Eating It is well-nown that. lack of sleep impairs concentration and alertneess, a LsteNi partly to late night food during late night hors may stave off some effects of sleep deprination. "ScienceDail aged 21 to 50 and gave them unlimited access to food and drink during the day, but allowed them o sicep per night for three consecutive nights. On the fourth night, nll partielpants ngain had to stay up until 4 am, but this time participants were randomized into two yroupe; one group was only given access to water from 10 pm until their bedtime at 4 am while the other group still had unlimited access to food and drink for all hours. The and this might be due conaumption. A 2015 study (University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine ly, Jue 4, 2015) took 44 people nly 4 hours of untl until group forced to fast from 10 pm on performed significantly better on tests of reaction time and had fewer attention lapees than the group with access to late night food. (a) What are the explanatory and response variables? (b) Is this nu observational study or a randomized experiment.? (c) Can we conclude that eating late at night worsens some of the typical effeets of alcep deprivation (reaction time and attention lapses)? (d) Are there likely to be confounding variables? Why or why not? (6) Does Red Increase Men's Attraction to women? A study (Eliot, A. and Nicsta, D., "Romantic Red Red Enhances Men's Attraction to Women," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2008; 95(5): 1150-1164.) examined the impact of the color red on how attractive men perceive women to be. In the study, men were randomly divided into two groups and were asked to rate the attractiveness of women on a scale of 1 (not at all attractive) to 9 (extremely attractive). One group of men were shown pictures of women on a white background and the other group were shown the same pictures of women on a red background. The men who saw women on the red background ratod them as more attractive. All participants and those showing the pictures and collecting the data were not aware of the purpose of the study (a) Is this an experiment or an observationsl study? Explain (b) What is the explanatory variable and what is the response variable? Identify each as categorical or quantitative. (c) How was randomization used in this study? (d) How was blinding used? Why would this be important? (e) Can we conclude that using a red background color instead of white increases men's attractiveness rating of women's pictures?

Explanation / Answer

(a) In the experimental studies, the treatment applied to the experimental units (human, animal, etc,) and effect of the treatment is observed by the investigator. The treatment in the experimental study is under control of the investigator. Whereas in observational studies, investigator observes the subjects without applying the treatment to the subjects. The treatment in the observational study is beyond the control of the investigator. Here, in this situation, the subjects are not under control of the investigator. Since the respondents are answering independently. Thus, the current study is the observational study.

(b) Here, the explanatory variable is the background color (red/white)and the response variable is the attractiveness of the women (from scale 1 to 9). The background color variable consists of two categories i.e. red and white is the categorical variable. Since another variable attractiveness of women consists of 9 categories (1 to 9), this is the ordered categorical variable.

(c) As already mentioned in the question, “men were randomly divided into two groups”. This is the way randomization usedin the study.

(d) All participants and those showing the pictures and collecting the were not aware of the purpose of the study. Thus, the study is blindly used. This is important because it can reduce the chances of biases capable of introduced by any of the participant or data collectors.

(e) Yes, we can conclude that using red background color instead of white increases men’s attractiveness rating of women’s picture. Because the men who saw the women’s picture in the red background rated them more attractive.