A recent study examined the impact of the color red on how attractive men perceive women to be. In the study, men were randomly divided into two groups and were asked to rate the attractiveness of women on a scale of 1 (not at all attractive) to 9 (extremely attractive). One group of men were shown pictures of women on a white background and the other group were shown the same pictures of women on a red background. The men who saw women on the red background rated them as more attractive. All participants and those showing the pictures and collecting the data were not aware of the purpose of the study.

(a) Is this an experiment or an observational study? Explain.

(b) What is the explanatory variable and what is the response variable? Identify each as categorical or quantitative.

(c) How was randomization used in this experiment? How was blinding used?

(d) Can we conclude that using a red background color instead of white increases men’s attractiveness rating of women’s pictures?