Considerations Statistical Procedures to Control - MyAssignmenthelp.co

Question: Discuss about the Considerations Statistical Procedures to Control. Answer: Introduction: The hypothesis was arrived at by comparing finding from previous studies. The previous studies indicated inconsistent findings some of them showing that a decrease in the ration of AA to EPA or the PUFAs leads to ADHD while other studies indicated otherwise. The studies by Antalis et al. (2006, p. 299) and Burgess et al. (2000, p. 327) formed basis for the current research in that they reported that children who suffered from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder had greater ratio of AA to EPA when compared with the controls. Similar results by Stevens et al. (1996, p. 915) in young children and Antalis et al. (2006, p. 299) in young adults got the same results prompting the current research to determine whether supplementation with polyunsaturated fatty acid can help improve behavior of children having ADHD. Contrary results from Voigi et al. who found no effect on children having ADHD after supplementation with DHA for 4 moths warranted further research. Nine (9). There were 6 boys and 3 girls between the age of 8 and 16 years old whom 2/3 of total sample were presented with ADHD-combined subtype while the remaining ADHD inattentive subtype. The children were selected from the population who were already suffering from the condition and were under the treatment for ADHD-primarily inattentive subtype ina a hospital called Hallowell Center. The study participants were six boys and three girls. Six of the subjects had ADHD-combined subtype, and the other three with ADHD-primarily inattentive subtype (two girls and one boy). No blinds were used. A blind experiment is that do not inform the research participants whether they are in the control or treatment group (Naber et al. 1584). In this study all the participants were aware that they were taking the medication. Have another look at the controls question and see if you can find them in your study. Remember that controls are built into the study design to help standardize results and to reduce/eliminate factors that can have an influence on what the are looking to find. Think about what the paper is researching and read through the methods section to see if they set any sort or rules or standards for participation. For example were there set schedules for check ups, did they standardize lifestyle factors (meaning did they give everyone the same recommendations for diet or exercise etc), did they have any exclusion criteria for participant selection (genetics or potential preexisting conflicting conditions, medication etc). These are not necessarily all relevant to your paper but just examples of some controls commonly used. Though the authors subjected all children with treatment, there were some controls to ensure reliability of results. Children having ADHD was selected based on criteria of Diagnostic Statistical Manual. All children were given similar dosage of EPA and DHA at the beginning of the study till week four when fatty acid analysis were carried out and adjustment made accordingly to ensure that ration of AA:EPA was greater than 1. Apart from calling parents/guardians to inform them to adhere to the protocol, test for EPA helped researchers in ascertaining the level of adherence. Another control point was blinding the psychiatrist who made contact with the children to prevent biases when making behavioral assessments. Variabilities have been known to increase the reliability of results (Mudter, Jonas, et al. 2416). Experimental controls are included in a study to eliminate extraneous factors that may affect results of the study. The control group is not affected by phenomena being measures a nd thus used for comparison purposes (Campbell and Stanley 34). The control group in this case could have been group given inactive placebo that is identical appearance with EPA/DHA. There was experimental group only in the study that consisted of subjects who received the variable tested. The participants were given 16.2 g EPA/DHA daily and where necessary adjustment were made for a period of four weeks. The supplementation with the EPA/DHA was to ascertain whether it could lead to improvement in behavior particularly inattention, conduct disorder and hyperactivity of the study participants. Non-experimental design: the researcher does not control the study subjects or variables, but relies on observation to come to a conclusion (Breaugh 284). However, to supplement psychiatrists behavioral assessment, the researchers carried out some test periodically. EPA/DHA dosage was administered to children and fatty acid analysis was carried out ascertain levels of AA and EPA that could related with observational findings. One thing to think about in terms of study design- while the researcher relied on observation to come to conclusions, did they make a change or add something into participants lifestyle? If so the design is classified as experimental. Its less about how the gather the results and more about how they conducted the study. The researchers did not take into account the supplement intake; they did not weigh bottles returned by subjects. This limitation was significant since it affects the results because it is not possible to know if the dosage was taken as prescribed. The adjustment of ratio of EPA to DHA concentrate dosage adjustments since some dosages were modified for particular participants. This limitation is significant since at week eight the data was taken uniformly irrespective of modification of the dosage at week four. The study did not include a placebo group. This limitation was not significant in this study since the placebo group for reference would only act as a reference point. Dietary intake each participant was not monitored during the study thus there is high chance of wrong interpretation of results particularly the intake of fatty acids from the diet. This limitation is significant because there is no common ground for evaluating the efficacy of the supplements. Subjects with high dietary intake at the beginning of the study would have an advantage over with those having low dietary intake. During the second assessment that is at week 4, three study participants had AA:EPA ratio below 1.0 while two had ratio between 1.0 and 1.5 and the remaining four had AA:EPA that was greater than 1.5. at the end of study, assessment showed that EPA and DHA levels had increased significantly by a factor of 9.5 and 2.4 respectively. As a result, AA:EPA reduced significantly by 71% from the start to end of the study. The 2nd half of the study between week 4 and 8 reported poor protocol adherence. Behavioral analysis showed improvement among ADHD SC-4 children. furthermore, significant positive correlation was found between percent change in AA:EPA ratio with percent change in severity of illness. Yes. The study was funded by the Inflammation Research Foundation. There was no conflict of interest since two of the authors are stockholders and president and employee respectively of Zone Labs Inc and the supplements were obtained from Inflammation Research Foundation. Works cited Antalis, Caryl J., et al. "Omega-3 fatty acid status in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder." Prostaglandins, leukotrienes and essential fatty acids 75.4 (2006): 299-308. Breaugh, James A. "Important considerations in using statistical procedures to control for nuisance variables in non-experimental studies."Human Resource Management Review18.4 (2008): 282-293. Burgess, John R., et al. "Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder." The American journal of clinical nutrition 71.1 (2000): 327S-330S. Campbell, Donald T., and Julian C. Stanley.Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research. Ravenio Books, 2015. Mudter, Jonas, et al. "The transcription factor IFN regulatory factor4 controls experimental colitis in mice via T cellderived IL-6."The Journal of clinical investigation118.7 (2008): 2415-2426. Naber, Fabienne, et al. "Intranasal oxytocin increases fathers observed responsiveness during play with their children: a double-blind within-subject experiment."Psychoneuroendocrinology35.10 (2010): 1583-1586. Richardson, Alexandra J., and Basant K. Puri. "A randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the effects of supplementation with highly unsaturated fatty acids on ADHD-related symptoms in children with specific learning difficulties."Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry26.2 (2002): 233-239. Stevens, Laura J., et al. "Essential fatty acid metabolism in boys with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder." The American journal of clinical nutrition 62.4 (1995): 761-768. Stevens, Laura J., et al. "Omega-3 fatty acids in boys with behavior, learning, and health problems." Physiology behavior 59.4 (1996): 915-920.