To determine whether a drug that is supposed to reduce hyperactivity actually works, an experiment should be conducted to test its effectiveness.
First, researchers must gather a sample. The sample will be taken from one hundred children who suffer from hyperactivity. The children will be selected at random, and they will have their hyperactivity measured on a scale of one to fifty. The random selection of participants ensures that all divisions of the population are accurately represented. I would make this a single-blind experiment, where only the doctors administering the drug and the researchers know which pill is being given. In my experiment, the independent variable would be the pill that claims to reduce hyperactivity, and my dependent variable would be the hyperactivity of the children. The occurrence or lack of hyperactivity is dependent on whether or not the drug works.
All experiments need a control, and a sugar pill will work perfectly. If the patients are given a sugar pill that looks just like the real drug, they will be unaware to which pill they are taking, so the concern of the placebo effect can be eliminated.
I will gather a random group of one hundred hyperactive children and test them four times. I will alternate every two testings with the sugar pill and the actual pill. Behavior of the participants will be recorded. Their hyperactivity will again be measured on a scale of one to fifty, and compared to the first measurement. The numbers for the times that the sugar pill was administered will be compared with the numbers from the times that the actual drug was administered. From this I will be able to accurately determine whether or not the drug had an effect on the hyperactive children.
In the end, this experiment will determine the effectivity of the new drug. By conducting this experiment following all procedures described, I will be able to