Question

Height and Breast Cancer. In the article "Height and Weight at Various Ages and Risk of Breast Cancer" (Annals of Epidemiology, Vol. 2, pp. 597-609), L. Brinton and C. Swanson discussed the relationship between height and breast cancer. The study, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, took $5$years and involved more than $1500$women with breast cancer and $2000$women without breast cancer; it revealed a trend between height and breast cancer: $\{\}^\{*\}$. . taller women have a $50$to $80$percent greater risk of getting breast cancer than women who are closer to 5 feet tall." Christine Swanson, a nutritionist who was involved with the study, added, "... height may be a relationship between height and the risk of breast cancer.

a. Classify this study as either an observational study or a designed experiment. Explain your answer.

b. Interpret the statement made by Christine $S$ wanson in light of your answer to part (a).

Short answer

a). It is an observational study.

b). It's impossible to know for sure whether or not there is a link between women's height and their risk of breast cancer.

Step-by-step solution

Part (a) Step 1: Given Information

A study was conducted to investigate the link between height and breast cancer.

Part (a) Step 2: Explanation

An observational study examines the features of a population through the study of individuals in a sample, but does not attempt to modify or influence the variables of interest.

A controlled experiment administers a treatment to persons (known as experimental units or subjects) with the goal of isolating the treatment's effects on a response variable.

Part (b) Step 1: Given Information

A study was conducted to investigate the link between height and breast cancer.

Part (b) Step 2: Explanation

Taller women have a $50$ to $80$ percent higher risk of breast cancer than women who are less than $5$ feet tall, according to the research.

The researcher nutritionist's statement makes logical because this tendency could be caused by other unknown factors. It's impossible to know for sure whether or not there is a link between women's height and their risk of breast cancer.