Math
153 Name:
________________________________
4/06
Project
Extra Credit 4) 10 points Due: Friday May 5, 2006
1. Read
the article, “Questionnaire survey on use
of placebo”, British Medical
Journal, September 17, 2004, vol. 329, pp. 944-946 and answer the
following questions. You may obtain it
from the following site. You can obtain
a print-out using a CCBC computer.
www.ccbcmd.edu tab Current Student, Libraries.
CCBC Essex library. Class related help, Faculty Readings Janice Dykacz Math153
OR go to the British Medical Journal site www.bmj.com past issues
Note: A placebo, in this case, is a pill, which looks and tastes like the drug, but which does not contain the drug.
It is sometimes called a “sugar pill.”
2. Verify the 95% confidence
interval of 49% to 70% mentioned in Abstract: Results on p.444.
n= ______________ n = number
of health care workers responding to the survey.
x
= ______________
x = number who said they used placebos, ie. gave patients placebos.
Write
down the formula used or explain in detail how you used the calculator to get
the 95% confidence interval.
3. What was the response rate in this survey?
_____________ (the percent of health care workers who agreed to participate in
the survey out of those contacted).
4. There is a mistake in the following
sentence on p. 944 under “Statistical methods.” “P <= 5 was considered significant.” How should the sentence be written?