Determine whether the study described is a randomized experiment or an observational study.

A website developer wants to determine the effectiveness of two new website designs. She provides both designs online and selects a sample of people who have reviewed design A and people who have reviewed design B. She then surveys the people regarding their opinion of the website.

1 answer

The study described is an observational study.

In this case, the website developer is not manipulating or randomly assigning participants to receive one of the website designs. Instead, she is selecting a sample of people who have already interacted with each design (those who reviewed design A and those who reviewed design B) and then surveying them about their opinions. There is no randomization involved in assigning participants to groups, which is a key characteristic of a randomized experiment. Therefore, this study qualifies as an observational study.