Determine whether the following scenario fits an observational study. Your teacher is trying to find the best way to teach fractions, and so they teach half the class using a traditional method and the other half of the class using hand-held fraction representations.

Question

Option #1: Yes, an observational study is the best.

Option #2: No, an observational study is not the best.

Answer 1

Option #2: No, an observational study is not the best.

This scenario describes an experimental study rather than an observational study. In an observational study, researchers observe subjects without intervening or manipulating any variables. In this case, the teacher is deliberately assigning different teaching methods to different groups of students, which constitutes an experiment.