Math Homework
As taken from Excursions in Modern Mathematics by Peter Tannenbaum -
Exercises 47-50 refer to the following story:
A college professor has a theory that a dose of about 500 milligrams of caffeine a day can actually improve students' performance in their college courses. To test his theory, he chooses 13 of the students in his Psychology 101 class who failed the first midterm and asks them to come to his office three times a week for individual tutoring. When the students come to his office, he engages them in friendly conversation while at the same time pouring them several cups of strong coffee (about 500mg of caffeine per student). After a month of doing this, he observes that of the 13 students, 8 show significant improvement, 3 show some improvement, and 2 show no improvement at all. Based on this, he concludes that his theory about caffeine is correct.
50.) Make some suggestions to the poor professor as to how he might improve his study.
I answer:
"Select more students as subjects (n = 30); choose a better representation of students in his class based on ability; eliminate extraneous influences such as change in demeanor, increased communication, extra tutoring help; utilize consent forms, since caffeine is a drug; observe behavior over a shorter period of time to reduce history effects (learning more about the subject matter/the professor's teaching and testing habits); compare subjects to a control group of equally able students; offer coffee to the entire class, but have a research assistant track who gets regular coffee (experimental condition) and who gets decaf (control group [placebo]); sample students based on GPA or SAT scores, rather than on one test score for one class; quantify the improvement data; avoid using the term "significant" to describe data that has not been statistically analyzed; give the professor a research methods textbook because he apparently has never read one; question the academic integrity of the university and affiliated professors who awarded him his degree; research background literature on the physiological and cognitive effects of caffeine on humans and experimental animals; hire me as a handsomely paid research assistant; shoot himself in the face."
Oh god, I hope my teacher takes the time to actually read this.
Exercises 47-50 refer to the following story:
A college professor has a theory that a dose of about 500 milligrams of caffeine a day can actually improve students' performance in their college courses. To test his theory, he chooses 13 of the students in his Psychology 101 class who failed the first midterm and asks them to come to his office three times a week for individual tutoring. When the students come to his office, he engages them in friendly conversation while at the same time pouring them several cups of strong coffee (about 500mg of caffeine per student). After a month of doing this, he observes that of the 13 students, 8 show significant improvement, 3 show some improvement, and 2 show no improvement at all. Based on this, he concludes that his theory about caffeine is correct.
50.) Make some suggestions to the poor professor as to how he might improve his study.
I answer:
"Select more students as subjects (n = 30); choose a better representation of students in his class based on ability; eliminate extraneous influences such as change in demeanor, increased communication, extra tutoring help; utilize consent forms, since caffeine is a drug; observe behavior over a shorter period of time to reduce history effects (learning more about the subject matter/the professor's teaching and testing habits); compare subjects to a control group of equally able students; offer coffee to the entire class, but have a research assistant track who gets regular coffee (experimental condition) and who gets decaf (control group [placebo]); sample students based on GPA or SAT scores, rather than on one test score for one class; quantify the improvement data; avoid using the term "significant" to describe data that has not been statistically analyzed; give the professor a research methods textbook because he apparently has never read one; question the academic integrity of the university and affiliated professors who awarded him his degree; research background literature on the physiological and cognitive effects of caffeine on humans and experimental animals; hire me as a handsomely paid research assistant; shoot himself in the face."
Oh god, I hope my teacher takes the time to actually read this.