study? u produce being ro 3. Early in his career, Ronald Fisher, who can arguabl
ID: 3370092 • Letter: S
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study? u produce being ro 3. Early in his career, Ronald Fisher, who can arguably be considered the father of modern statisties, was employed at the Rothamsted Experimental Station. This faculty's main purpose was to investigate the impact of inorganic and organic fertilizers on crop yield. They would plant different crops in different kinds of soil, add different amounts of water and use different combinations of fertilizers to determine the combination of parameters that would provide the "best" result. Were these investigations observational studies or designed experiments? Please explain your answer.Explanation / Answer
These investigations were designed experiments.
In a designed experiment, investigators apply treatments to experimental units (plots of land, say) and then proceed to observe the effect of the treatments on the experimental units, which is exactly what happened here- different crops were planted in different kinds of soil, with different amounts of water added and different kinds of fertilizers used, in order to determine which combination of all these would yield the "best" result.
On the other hand, in an observational study, investigators observe subjects and measure variables of interest without assigning treatments to the subjects. The treatment that each subject receives is determined beyond the control of the investigator.
Hence we can surely say that this is not an observational study as the different treatments assigned are determined by the investigator themselves.
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