Acupuncture. Research reported in 2008 brings to lightthe effectiveness of treating chronic lower back pain withdifferent methods. One-third of nearly 1200 volunteers were administered conventional treatment (drugs, physi-cal therapy, and exercise). The remaining patients got 30-minute acupuncture sessions. Half of these patientswere punctured at sites suspected of being useful andhalf received needles at other spots on their bodies.Comparable shares of each acupuncture group, roughly45%, reported decreased back pain for at least six monthsafter their sessions ended. This was almost twice as highas those receiving the conventional therapy, leading theresearchers to conclude that results were statisticallysignificant.a) Why did the researchers feel it was necessary to havesome of the patients undergo a “fake” acupuncture?b) Because patients had to consent to participate in thisexperiment, the subjects were essentially self-selected—a kind of voluntary response group. Explain why thatdoes not invalidate the findings of the experiment.c) What does “statistically significant” mean in thecontext of this experiment?

Glencoe Algebra 1, Student Edition, 9780079039897, 0079039898, 2018
18th Edition
ISBN:9780079039897
Author:Carter
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Chapter10: Statistics
Section10.6: Summarizing Categorical Data
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Acupuncture. Research reported in 2008 brings to light
the effectiveness of treating chronic lower back pain with
different methods. One-third of nearly 1200 volunteers
were administered conventional treatment (drugs, physi-
cal therapy, and exercise). The remaining patients got
30-minute acupuncture sessions. Half of these patients
were punctured at sites suspected of being useful and
half received needles at other spots on their bodies.Comparable shares of each acupuncture group, roughly
45%, reported decreased back pain for at least six months
after their sessions ended. This was almost twice as high
as those receiving the conventional therapy, leading the
researchers to conclude that results were statistically
significant.
a) Why did the researchers feel it was necessary to have
some of the patients undergo a “fake” acupuncture?
b) Because patients had to consent to participate in this
experiment, the subjects were essentially self-selected—
a kind of voluntary response group. Explain why that
does not invalidate the findings of the experiment.
c) What does “statistically significant” mean in the
context of this experiment?
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