Cooley et al. (2009) randomly assigned either of two treatments, naturopathic care (diet counseling, breathing techniques, vitam
ins, and a herbal medicine) or stan- dardized psychotherapy (psychotherapy with breathing techniques and a placebo added), to 81 individuals having moderate to severe anxiety. Anxiety scores decreased an average of 57% in the naturopathic group and 31% in the psychotherapy group. Is this an experimental or observational study?
This is an experimental study because it involves determination of the effect of each treatment on separate individuals. It involves selecting the 81 individuals randomly to be treated with a particular treatment (either of the two treatment). In experimental study the researcher apply separate treatments on a different groups and measure its effect on each of the groups.
