Experiment Exploration: Inspiring Research Ideas for Dominica’s New Journey Cont.

Having gained some clarity on potential biases, Dominica is now facing another conundrum. She needs to determine whether her research on athletes’ sleep patterns should adopt an observational approach or be a controlled experiment. Each method has its strengths and weaknesses. As she battles with this decision, her colleagues rally to her aid again. They put together a pair of examples to illustrate the difference between observational studies and controlled experiments.

Dominica is considering factors such as diet, exercise routines, and daily water intake when examining the sleep patterns of athletes. However, she is aware that there could be other factors, external to her study, that might affect the sleep patterns of the athletes, potentially skewing her results.

Excellent work! Today, you’ve practiced the vital skills of identifying appropriate sampling methods, detecting potential biases, distinguishing between observational studies and experiments, and identifying confounding variables. These skills are key to conducting a successful and impactful study.