You have been asked to help a top nutrition researcher conduct human experiments on vitamin C. As the subjects walk into the laboratory, you distribute all the vitamin C pill bottles to the girls and all the placebo pill bottles to the boys. The researcher instantly informs you that there are two errors in your research practice. What steps should you have taken to conduct your experiment correctly?
A)Giving all the boys the vitamin C and the girls the placebo, and telling them what they were getting
B)Distributing the bottles randomly, randomizing the subjects, and telling them what they were getting
C)Telling the subjects which group they were in, but preventing yourself from knowing the contents of the pill bottles
D)Preventing yourself from knowing what is in the pill bottles, and distributing the bottles randomly to the subjects
E)Allowing the subjects to decide whether they take Vitamin C or the placebo, and then giving them the opposite of what they requested

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The best choice is to prevent oneself from knowing what is in the pill bottles and distribute the bottles randomly to the subjects. This is known as double-blind randomization, where neither the researcher nor the subjects know which pill they are receiving. This helps to eliminate bias and ensure the validity of the experiment.

You Have Been Asked to Help a Top Nutrition Researcher