A fitness instructor wants to test the effectiveness of a performance-enhanding herbal supplement on students in her exercise class. To create experimental groups that are similar at the beginning of the study, the students are assigned into two groups at random (they cannot choose which group they are in). Students in both groups are given a pill to take every day, but they do not know whether the pill is a placebo (sugar pill) or the herbal supplement. The instructor gives Group A the herbal supplement and Group B receives the placebo (sugar pill). The students' fitness level is compared before and after sik weeks of consuming the supplement or the sugar pill. No differences in performance ability were found between the two groups suggesting that the herbal supplement was not effective.
1.What is the purpose of the study?
2.What are the groups being compared in this study?
3.What is the independent variable in the study?
4.Is this an example of an experimental research?