The Scenario

A new study suggests that pink drinks can help you perform better while exercising. Researchers at the Center for Nutraceuticals in the University of Westminster investigated the effect of drink color on exercise performance. In this study,61 active 18 - 25 year old adults were instructed to run 30 minutes on a treadmill. Half of the participants used a pink drink to rinse their mounths during the run, the other half used a clear drink to rinse their mounths during the run. The drinks were artificially sweetened and identical except for the color. The participants were randomized as to which drink they received. The researchers evaluating the performance of the runs were not aware which drink the participant was getting but the participants could see the color of the drink. Researchers noted running speed, the distance covered during the run, and asked participants to rate their feeling of the pleasure from the drink. Self-selected running speed and distance covered were significantly improved for participants using the pink mouth rinse, as were expressed feelings of pleasure.

The Questions

Please answer the following questions based on the information above:

1. Describe the control group.
2. What is the explanatory variable?
3. What is the response variable?
4. Did the researchers use any blinding? If so, what was blinded?
5. Are the results generalizable to all adults? In other words, would we expect similar results to show up in the broader population of all adults? Why or why not? Use information from the scenario to justify your answer.