A Health Researcher Was Interested in the Variation of Patient

question 20

Multiple Choice

A health researcher was interested in the variation of patient recovery rates across four different treatment programmes. He was particularly interested in whether the treatment programme that the patient was in had a possible influence on the patient's recovery rate. He ran an ANOVA with the predictor variable 'treatment programme', which had three categories, 'Placebo', 'Drug X' and 'Natural'; the outcome variable was 'Patient recovery rate'. His ANOVA had an F-statistic of 98.12 (p 0.02) . How would you interpret his findings?

• A)There is no significant difference in patient recovery rates by treatment programme.
• B)There is insufficient information; the results of Post hoc tests are needed.
• C)There is a significant difference in patient recovery rates by treatment programme.
• D)The results are ambiguous.

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Definitions:

Phenotype

The observable physical or biochemical characteristics of an organism as determined by both genetic makeup and environmental influences.

Microevolution

The process of evolution over a short period that results in changes in gene frequency within a population, leading to slight adaptations or shifts.

Allele Frequencies

The proportion of all copies of a given gene variant (allele) present in a particular population.

Generations

Sequential stages in the familial lineage, where an individual's successors are considered a new generation.