Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN), also known as Lyell’s syndrome, is a life-threatening disease characterized by blisters that cover the skin and extensive peeling off of the skin. In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study of the effects of a drug called thalidomide on TEN, it was found that 10 of the 12 patients in the thalidomide group died compared with 3 of 10 in the placebo group.

(a) What type of experimental design is this?
(b) What is the response variable in the study? Is it qualitative or quantitative?
(c) How many subjects were in the study?
(d) What does it mean for the study to be “double-blind”?
(e) What does it mean for the study to be “randomized”?
(f) Using the methods of this section, explain why the study was stopped. What does this result suggest?