1. I. Introduction and Data Collection C. Conducting a Study

2. Example
Suppose that we are interested in looking at teacher effectiveness in the Fayette County Public schools. We are going to base teacher effectiveness on student performance using a standardized test.
What is the response variable?
What is the explanatory variable?
Is this an experiment or an observational study?
Is student standardized tests a valid measure of teacher effectiveness? Do you think it is reliable?
Is there any confounding variables in this study?

3. Example
Suppose we want to look at how alcohol by gender (male or female) effects reaction time. For each gender, we will randomly assign subjects to four levels of the alcohol variable (one of which will be a control).
What is the response variable?
What is the explanatory variable?
Is this an experiment or observational study?
What aspect of this experimental design will help deal with the possible effect of a lurking variable on the response variable?

4. Is this a block design or a completely randomized experimental design?
Is there any confounding in this study?
Could blinding be used in this study?
If there was an interaction between the variables gender and alcohol level on reaction time what would this mean?
If there was no interaction and the variable gender was statistically significant, what does this tell you?

5. Believing a Statistic
Who funded the research and who conducted the research?
What type of study was conducted?
What individuals were studied and how where they selected?
Is there any bias from measurement or other non-sampling error?
What was the sample size and how much sampling error was reported?

6. Was lurking variables controlled for in the study?
Was there confounding variables in the study?
How was individuals assigned to groups and were there any differences between the groups being compared?
What was the magnitude of any claimed effects or differences?
Was an appropriate analysis technique utilized?