State whether the following would be an observational study or an experiment: test the effects of breakfast on grades I ask my students if they ate breakfast a then compare the breakfast eaters grades to the non-breakfast eaters.
This is an example of:
Observational study
Experiment
The correct answer and explanation is:
This is an example of an observational study.
In an observational study, the researcher observes and records information about the participants without intervening or manipulating any variables. In this case, you are simply observing whether students ate breakfast and then comparing their grades based on their choices, without any active intervention or control over who eats breakfast.
An experiment, on the other hand, involves actively manipulating one or more independent variables and observing the effects on dependent variables. For example, if you were to randomly assign some students to eat breakfast and others to skip breakfast, and then compare their grades, that would be considered an experiment. In this case, you would be controlling the exposure to breakfast, which is a key aspect of experimental design.
Here, you’re not influencing the students’ behavior regarding breakfast; you’re merely observing the existing conditions (whether or not they ate breakfast) and comparing the outcomes (their grades). Thus, you cannot establish a cause-and-effect relationship with this study because no manipulation was involved. Instead, you can only identify trends or associations between breakfast consumption and academic performance.
Observational studies are useful for identifying patterns, but they can’t definitively prove causation, since other factors (such as study habits, sleep patterns, or prior academic performance) could also be influencing the grades.