Would monetary rewards motivate you to pass more classes? In a two-semester study, researchers randomly assigned 1019 low-income community college students who were parents into two groups. Each member of the first group received a $20 gift card. Each member of the second group received the gift card plus monetary rewards for enrolling in classes, staying enrolled in classes, and maintaining at least a C average. Students in the second group could be awarded as much as $2000. The researchers concluded that monetary rewards increase the number of credits earned by low-income community college students who are parents.
a. Describe the treatment and control groups.
b. Is the study an experiment or an observational study? Explain.
c. What does random assignment mean in this study? How could this be accomplished?
d. Describe the sample and the population.