A large pharmaceutical company is trying to determine whether a drug aptly named Recall-Pro can increase your short-term memory
capacity. The company prepares a double-blind study as follows: Step 1: A randomly selected pool of individuals is brought to a clinic and is evaluated for any existing health conditions that may impair the results of this experiment.
Step 2: The remaining individuals are split into two groups: a treatment group and a control group.
Step 3: The control group receives a placebo, but neither the researcher nor the individuals know this.
Step 4: The treatment group receives Recall-Pro, but neither the researcher nor the individuals know this.
Which step is flawed in the double-blind study? Why?
A.Step 1; health screening should not eliminate participants from the study
B.Step 2; it does not specify whether the two groups are chosen randomly
C.Step 3; the control group does not receive the placebo
D.Step 4; members of the treatment group should know that they have received the medication
The best answer to the question that is being stated above would be letter B. Step 2 is the one that is flawed in the double-blind study because it does not specify that the two groups were randomly chosen. It is important to assign the participants randomly so that the results give a non-confounded result.
