I.15 Design an experiment. Gary and Greg share an apartment 10 miles from campus. Gary thinks that the fastest way to get to campus is to take the shortest route, which involves taking several side streets. Greg thinks the fastest way is to take the route with the highest speed limits, which involves taking the highway most of the way but is two miles longer than Gary’s route. You recruit 20 friends who are willing to try either method and time how long it takes them to arrive on campus. Outline the design of an experiment to decide which method takes less time. (Hint: See pages 98–101.)
Exercises I.16 to I.19 are based on an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association that compares the use of antibiotics to treat uncomplicated acute appendicitis instead of surgery with an appendectomy. Here is information from the article’s summary:
Design Randomized clinical trial conducted in Finland between 2009 and 2012.
Participants A total of 530 patients aged 18 to 60 years with uncomplicated appendicitis.
Intervention Participants were randomized to receive either an antibiotic therapy (n = 257) or a standard appendectomy (n = 273).
Results For all but one of the patients receiving surgery, the appendectomy was successful, resulting in a success rate of 99.6%. In the antibiotic group, 70 patients required an appendectomy within 1 year of initial presentation of appendicitis, resulting in a success rate (no recurrent symptoms after 1 year) of 72.7%.