In its January 25, 2012, issue, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported on the effects of overconsumptio
n of low, normal, and high protein diets on weight gain, energy expenditure, and body composition. Researchers conducted a single blind, randomized controlled trial of 25 U.S. adults. All subjects were admitted to the inpatient metabolic unit for the duration of the trial (10 to 12 weeks). The subjects were healthy, weight-stable, male and female volunteers, aged 18 to 35 years. All subjects consumed a weight-stabilizing diet for 13 to 25 days. Afterwards, the researchers randomly assigned participants to diets containing various percentages of energy from protein: 5% (low protein), 15% (normal protein), or 25% (high protein). The subjects were not aware of the specific protein level diet to which they were assigned. On these diets the researchers overfed the participants during the last 8 weeks of their 10 to 12 week stay in the inpatient metabolic unit. Which of the following is used in the design of this experiment? a. observational study.
b. experiment.
An observational study is one in which the researchers monitor the effect of a risk factor on subjects without introducing interventions for the purpose of noting differences in results. An experiment is mainly a randomized control trial where subjects are assigned to groups and chosen by chance. Interventions are also introduced by the researchers so as to note the different possible results within the groups and among participants.
The above-described process incorporates an experiment and that is why the researchers introduce protein level diet as interventions. It also employs the random assignment of subjects to different groups so as to improve the accuracy of the process.
