Question

Peanut Allergies. In the article " Food Allergy Advice May Be Peanuts " (Science News, Vol . 174, No. 12, pp . 8-9), N. Seppa reports that early exposure to peanuts seems to lessen the risk of nut allergy. Of 4000 Jewish children sampled in Britain, 1.85 % had peanut allergies; and of 4600 Jewish children sampled in Israel, where early peanut consumption is more common, 0.17 % had peanut allergies. The researcher chose Jewish children in both countries to limit genetic differences between groups.

(a) Is this study descriptive or inferential?

(b) Is this study observational or experimental?

Short answer

Part (a) Descriptive study.

Part (b) Observational study.

Step-by-step solution

Part (a) Step 1. Given information.

The given statement is:

In the article " Food Allergy Advice May Be Peanuts " (Science News, Vol . 174, No. 12, pp . 8-9), N. Seppa reports that early exposure to peanuts seems to lessen the risk of nut allergy. Of 4000 Jewish children sampled in Britain, 1.85 % had peanut allergies; and of 4600 Jewish children sampled in Israel, where early peanut consumption is more common, 0.17 % had peanut allergies. The researcher chose Jewish children in both countries to limit genetic differences between groups.

Part (a) Step 2. Classify the given study as either descriptive or inferential.

It is given in the study, that out of 4000 Jewish children sampled in Britain, 1.85 percent of children had peanut allergies; and of 4600 Jewish children sampled in Israel, 0.17 percent of children had peanut allergies.

The researcher chose Jewish children in both countries to limit genetic differences between groups.

To put it another way, the given information is have been summarised.

As a result, we can classify the given study as descriptive.

Part (b) Step 1. Classify the given study as either observational or experimental.

We can observe from the given study that the researcher has not done any experiment in this study, he had only observed the behavior and then provided the conclusions.

Therefore, the given study is an observational study.