Final answer:
If you were to track coffee preferences among your co-workers for the next two weeks, you would be performing a case-control study. This type of study compares a group of subjects with a trait of interest (cases) to a group of similar subjects without the trait (controls) to find correlations between specific past behaviors and current status.
Step-by-step explanation:
If you were to track coffee preferences among your co-workers for the next two weeks, you would be performing a case-control study. A case-control study is a type of observational study that compares a group of subjects with a trait of interest (cases) to a group of similar subjects without the trait (controls).
In this case, the trait of interest would be the preference for a particular type of coffee. You would compare the coffee preferences of co-workers who have a specific preference (cases) to those who don't have that preference (controls).
This type of study is retrospective, meaning that subjects are asked to report their past behaviors, such as their coffee preferences in this case. By comparing the two groups, you can identify any correlations between specific past behaviors (coffee preferences) and the current status (whether they have a specific preference or not).