Let's assume you are conducting an experiment to determine the effect of a new drug on the incidence of epileptic seizures. You select 20 epileptics from the 150 epileptics being treated at a nearby hospital and administer the drug to them. You record the number of seizures in each of the 20 subjects for one month. The average (mean) number of seizures for the 20 subjects is called _________.
A) the dependent variable
B) data
C) a statistic
D) a parameter

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The average number of seizures for the 20 subjects is a statistic, which is a summary measure calculated from a sample. The dependent variable is the variable being measured in order to determine the effect of the drug, and data is the information collected from the subjects. A parameter, on the other hand, is a summary measure calculated from a population, and it is not applicable in this scenario since we are working with a sample.

Let's Assume You Are Conducting an Experiment to Determine the Effect