Question

Suppose you are conducting a study to compare firefly populations exposed to normal daylight/darkness conditions with firefly populations exposed to continuous light (24 hours a day). You set up two firefly colonies in a laboratory environment. The two colonies are identical except that one colony is exposed to normal daylight/darkness conditions and the other is exposed to continuous light. Each colony is populated with the same number of mature fireflies. After 72 hours, you count the number of living fireflies in each colony. (a) Is this an experiment or an observation study? Explain.

Answer 1

(a) This is an experiment.

Step-by-step explanation:

The researchers establish an intervention and examine the effects in either of the two conditions. Hence, this is an experimental study. Also, it includes a control group as well as a treatment group. The control group in the given experiment is the firefly colony which is exposed to continuous light whereas, the treatment group is the firefly colony which is exposed to normal darkness and daylight conditions.

The ratio level of measurement is being used in the given experiment because the study counted the number of live fireflies.