1.54 Sinusitis and antibiotics, Part II. Researchers studying the effect of antibiotic treatment compared to symptomatic treatment for acute sinusitis randomly assigned 166 adults diagnosed with sinusitis into two groups (as discussed in Exercise 1.2). Participants in the antibiotic group received a 10-day course of an antibiotic, and the rest received symptomatic treatments as a placebo. These pills had the same taste and packaging as the antibiotic. At the end of the 10-day period patients were asked if they experienced improvement in symptoms since the beginning of the study. The distribution of responses is summarized below.73 Self reported improvement in symptoms Yes No Total Antibiotic 66 19 85 Treatment Placebo 65 16 81 Total 131 35 166 (a) What type of a study is this? (b) Does this study make use of blinding? (c) At first glance, does antibiotic or placebo appear to be more effective for the treatment of sinusitis? Explain your reasoning using appropriate statistics. (d) There are two competing claims that this study is used to compare: the independence model and the alternative model. Write out these competing claims in easy-to-understand language and in the context of the application. Hint: The researchers are studying the effectiveness of antibiotic treatment. (e) Based on your finding in (c), does the evidence favor the alternative model? If not, then explain why. If so, what would you do to check if whether this is strong evidence?
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