A nutritionist has designed an intervention to motivate parents of preschool children to provide more fruits and vegetables to their children. To study the effectiveness of this intervention, the nutritionist will conduct an experiment in which half of the selected study participants will receive the intervention and the others will not. Study subjects will be recruited from families with children who receive medical care for their children through the university health center. One factor that must be accounted for is whether the family receives aid through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which provides funds for fruits and vegetables to the mothers. Which of the following experiments should the nutritionist use?
A)a completely randomized design
B)a matched design where children are matched on age and gender, and the WIC child does not get the intervention
C)a randomized matched pairs design where parents are matched on age, gender, and WIC program participation
D)a matched pairs observational study

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Since one factor that needs to be accounted for is whether the family receives aid through the WIC program, a randomized matched pairs design where parents are matched on age, gender, and WIC program participation would be the best choice. This design helps to control for the potential confounding variable of WIC program participation and ensures that both groups have an equal number of families receiving aid from the program. Additionally, randomization helps eliminate selection bias and create comparable treatment groups.

A Nutritionist Has Designed an Intervention to Motivate Parents of Preschool