Participants with high blood pressure first take a commonly-used medication for two weeks; their blood pressure is then assessed. For the following two weeks, they instead take a new medication and their blood pressure is again assessed. A possible problem with this study is a ________ effect.
A) practice
B) fatigue
C) carry-over effect
D) salience

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The scenario describes a crossover study design, in which each participant serves as their own control. The concern with this design is the potential for a carry-over effect, where the effects of the first treatment period carry over into the second treatment period and affect the results. In this case, the carry-over effect could occur if the first medication has lingering effects on the participants' blood pressure during the second medication period, making it difficult to determine the true effects of the second medication. Practice effect refers to improvements in performance due to repeated exposure to the same task, and fatigue refers to a decline in performance due to prolonged or repetitive task performance. Salience refers to the meaningfulness or relevance of a stimulus or task, and does not apply to this scenario.

Participants with High Blood Pressure First Take a Commonly-Used Medication