Important Email #2 Part A
Assigned October 2, 2012.
Due by 5:00 PM on October 12, 2012.
To be performed by groups (see
group assignments) and submitted by the group leaders
Any changes made to these instructions after the 10/2 class will be shown in red.
About groups
Each group is assigned a leader who should coordinate the groups' activities, take responsibility for making decisions when the group cannot agree, will report to me on the groups' progress and seek my advice on behalf of the group, and is the sole person responsible for submitting the Important Email.
Group members will be asked to evaluate each other after Part B of the Important Email is complete.
What you are hired to do
Some scientific evidence exists suggesting endocannabinoids (EC) fats, present only in vegetable oil, disturbs the body's natural functioning and causes us to eat excessively. Could the increased use of vegetable oils in recent decades be the primary cause of obesity? You are given millions and millions of dollars to design a research program to answer this question.
Using the two handouts, Tricks Foods Play and Providing Non-Caloric Beverages... , and your own creativity, design a large-scale randomized trial to discern whether EC fats encourage weight gain.
You can do this, though you may feel anxious at the start. Just remember, you have tons of money, and there are hundreds of good experimental designs. I do not expect all teams to have the same answer. Think of all the ways in which you can identify two groups, one with high EC fat consumption and one with low consumption, such that if one group gains more weight over that period it is almost certain it is due to the EC fats, and nothing else. Your subjects can be adults, or it can be kids at school cafeterias, or something else.
Section B.1 of (AD.A.3) When stochasticity does and doesn't matter gives you six examples of large-scale, randomized-trials. If you read these six trials you should have no trouble coming up with ideas.
Don't feel like the answer is to just copy one of the trials I have provided you, don't feel like you must identify an answer quickly, and don't hesitate to ask for help.
Again, all you need to do is write a few paragraphs describing the large-scale randomized trial that measures whether EC fat consumption causes weight gain. By "large-scale" I mean at least 300 people, and preferably more than 1,000. By "randomized-trial" I mean that although people are in either the high EC fat consumption or low EC fat consumption group, the process determining which group they are in is completely random, such that any differences in weight gain must be due to EC fats and EC fats alone.
What to submit
The group leader should send me an articulate email describing the experimental your group designed. Use the email address bailey.norwoodCLASS@gmail.com. Consider this like an informal email you would send to your boss. You know your boss well, and you don't have to go through all the formalities as in Important Email 1, but be polite and respectful. Your writing doesn't have to be polished or perfect. What matters is that the design is a good design, and your email is clear and persuasive. Describe your design and argue why it is a good design. If you are clear, sound intelligent, persuasive, and if the design is effective, then you have done your job. Moreover, don't write more than is needed. Your boss is busy and grows impatient with unnecessarily long emails.
Note: although the team leader will submit the email, the team members should review and edit it to ensure its quality.
