Quitting Smoking

1. Quitting Smoking Tori O’Reilly Dylan Umstead Carl Ventura

2. Topic • The purpose of this experiment is to determine whether a new type gum, meant to prevent smoking habits, will help decrease the amount of cigarettes smoked by an individual. • One hundred randomly chosen individuals, who smoke and have the desire to quit, will be monitored over several months. They will be categorized by the length of time they have been smoking. • Some will be given the “treatment” gum and others will just be given normal chewing gum. The effect of their “cutback” from the gum will be looked at after the several months of observation. • The experiment will be performed with several groups over the next couple of years.

3. Confounding • The age of the individuals as well as the length of time the person has been smoking could both effect the results. • The diet and gender of the subjects could also effect the study.

4. Blinding • The individuals in the study do not know whether they are being given the “treatment” gum or the normal chewing gum.

5. Placebo/Placebo Effect • The placebo would be the normal gum. • The placebo effect would be if individuals who were given the normal gum claimed that the gum helped them “cutback” on smoking.

6. Blocking • The length of time the individuals have been smoking will determine their group. There will be a group for 0-5 years, 5-10 years, and a group of 10+.

7. Replication • The experiment will be run with several groups at a time. Also, it will be run for a couple of years straight.

8. Conclusion • The results of this study will prove whether or not the “treatment” gum actually helps stop a person from smoking.