1. Does Oat Bran
Reduce Cholesterol?
Nick Bannon and Max Thalheimer

2. Subjects/Experimental Units
The population of interest is people with high cholesterol
levels. To select a sample of 1000 people, a sample frame
of Americans with high cholesterol levels (number to be
determined by current medical standards) will be
gathered. Each person will be assigned a number. A
random number generator will be used to select 500
females and 500 males. Of those, 100 of each gender will
be in each age range: 17 & under,18-24, 25-40, 41-64 and
65 & over. People will continue to be selected until each
strata is completely full.

3. Explanatory Variable, Treatments,
Response Variable
The explanatory variable is the consumption of oat bran.
Different treatments will be imposed over the course of
three months: 50 volunteers in each group will eat oat
bran every day and 50 volunteers in each group will eat a
placebo that looks and tastes like oat bran, but is not
actually oat bran.

4. Experimental Design Diagram
1000
volunteers
500 females
500 males
100 age 17 & under
100 age 18-24
100 age 25-40
100 age 41-64
100 age 65 & over
100 age 17 & under
100 age 18-24
100 age 25-40
100 age 41-64
100 age 65 & over
50 real oat bran
50 placebo oat bran
50 real oat bran
50 placebo oat bran
50 real oat bran
50 placebo oat bran
50 real oat bran
50 placebo oat bran
50 real oat bran
50 placebo oat bran
50 real oat bran
50 placebo oat bran
50 real oat bran
50 placebo oat bran
50 real oat bran
50 placebo oat bran
50 real oat bran
50 placebo oat bran
50 real oat bran
50 placebo oat bran

5. Experimental Design Principles
We will control the extraneous variables, such as diet,
exercise and medication by having each volunteer do the
same amount of exercise and take no medication, as well
as eat a predetermined amount of food. Since these
variables affect cholesterol levels, they will be controlled
to minimize the effect of lurking variables on the results.
The experiment will be replicated numerous times in
various places to quantify the natural variation. The
subjects are randomly assigned to each treatment, so that
helps include randomization in the experiment.

6. Blocking/Blinding
Both the volunteers and the doctors who measure the
cholesterol levels will be blinded. The volunteers will be
unaware of what they are eating since the placebo looks
and tastes like real oat bran. The doctors are also blinded
because they will not know which meal the volunteers ate
until after the cholesterol levels are measured.

7. Concerns
There are several concerns to keep in mind when conducting this
experiment. For example it must be ensured that any and all
participants in the experiment are not taking any form of cholesterol
lowering medication or diet supplement during the period of time
that the experiment is running. Also, participants should be asked to
record the amount of fiber that they consume (other than what is in
the oat bran) during the experiment. As fiber has in some cases been
shown to lower cholesterol, we must be able to ensure that it is the
oat bran that is responsible for the dip in numbers, and not just a
higher fiber diet. The same must be done with exercise. Perhaps all
participants can be paid a sum of money in exchange for their
agreeing not to exercise during the course of the experiment.

8. Statistical Analysis Techniques
At the conclusion of the experiment, the results will be
gathered and judged within each block. The difference
between each person’s original cholesterol number and their
number at the conclusion of the experiment will be plotted
on a histogram with the control group plotted in one color
and the experimental group in a different one. We will then
count to see which color group has more members who have
lowered their cholesterol levels. We will use a C.U.S.S.
analysis technique to examine and trends and important
points in the data, as well as identify any outliers which
garner explanation.

9. Conclusion
In conclusion, we believe that this experiment
will, through careful execution and the
elimination of many if not all confounding
variables, will be able to accurately determine
once and for all whether or not eating Oat
Bran will really lower one’s cholesterol levels.