An ancient, traditional remedy for insomnia – the scent of lavender flowers – has now been proved effective. In a recent study, 30 volunteers with chronic insomnia slept each night for three weeks on lavender-scented pillows in a controlled room where their sleep was monitored electronically. During the first week, volunteers continued to take their usual sleeping medication. They slept soundly but wakened feeling tired. At the beginning of the second week, the volunteers discontinued their sleeping medication. During that week, they slept less soundly than the previous week and felt even more tired. During the third week, the volunteers slept longer and more soundly than in the previous two weeks. Therefore, the study proves that lavender cures insomnia within a short period of time.
The study concludes that lavender is a panacea for insomnia and effects can be observed in a short time frame. The conclusion is based on a study that lasted three weeks, used lavender-scented pillows in a controlled room and thirty participants. There are myriad number of flaws in the study that could potentially invalidate the conclusion. There are three additional evidence required to ascertain the validity of the study's conclusion.
Firstly, the study should be conducted for a larger group of volunteers of 100 or more randomly selected from the population. The sample size of thirty is too small to conclusively determine the validity of the conclusion. In a small sample size, it is more likely for the probability of coincidence to occur. For example, these 30 volunteers might coincidentally all have a body physique which is more subsceptible to the scent of lavender so it is able to cure insomnia for them. However, this might not hold true for the vast majority who do not have such a physique. A lot sample size of 100 or more will provide a more representative sample size to minimize the possibility of a coincidence and conclusively determine the validity of an end result. Further, taking a random selection of the population would increase the rigor and representativeness of the study to assess the definitiviness of the study. Thus, until a study with larger sample size with a randomized participant pool is completed, the conclusion cannot be validated.
Secondly, the study should continue to observe the conditions of the patients after the third week. It concludes that lavender is a cure for insomnia on the basis of only one week of sound sleep, but one week of sound sleep might not be sufficient to declare that the lavender is the cure to insomnia. A cure means that the patient will no longer suffer from insomnia. For example, the effect observed could be a transient one that could wear off in the second week. In such a case, lavender only provides a transient ameliorating effect instead of a cure. Thus, further observations past the third week is required to ascertain whether lavender is the cure insomnia.
Thirdly, the study should be conducted against a placebo to determine whether it is the lavender that is resolving the insomnia and not a placebo effect. Placebo has been well-documented as being able to resolve a myraid of maladies. There is no definitive scientific theory but scientists have pegged it down to a self-fulling prophecy whereby patients feel they should get better after receiving treatment and this "feeling" led to their recovery regardless of the treatment. It could be possible that the patients subconsciously assume that lavender will cure their insomnia, which led to them eventually being cured. In such a case, any other treatment could have worked if the patient belives in the treatment option. Thus, without conducting a test against placebo, we cannot conclude if lavender indeed cure insomnia or it is just a placebo effect.
In conclusion, the study's conclusion could potentially be valid. However, further work as delinerated above have to be done to ensure that the conclusion from the study is a definitive one.
| Post date | Users | Rates | Link to Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-02-25 | tedyang777 | 60 | view |
| 2023-01-01 | Vraj Parekh | 54 | view |
| 2022-10-24 | Tris | 50 | view |
| 2022-06-10 | RahulEdara9 | 59 | view |
| 2021-07-26 | manjunath180397 | 58 | view |
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Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.5 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 3 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 10 2
No. of Sentences: 26 15
No. of Words: 531 350
No. of Characters: 2617 1500
No. of Different Words: 222 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.8 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.928 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.939 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 184 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 145 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 111 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 67 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 20.423 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 7.142 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.538 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.302 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.503 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.108 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, first, firstly, however, if, incidentally, second, secondly, so, third, thirdly, thus, well, for example, in conclusion
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 30.0 19.6327345309 153% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 20.0 12.9520958084 154% => OK
Conjunction : 11.0 11.1786427146 98% => OK
Relative clauses : 14.0 13.6137724551 103% => OK
Pronoun: 27.0 28.8173652695 94% => OK
Preposition: 65.0 55.5748502994 117% => OK
Nominalization: 10.0 16.3942115768 61% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2689.0 2260.96107784 119% => OK
No of words: 531.0 441.139720559 120% => OK
Chars per words: 5.06403013183 5.12650576532 99% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.80035803286 4.56307096286 105% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.05855899212 2.78398813304 110% => OK
Unique words: 232.0 204.123752495 114% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.436911487759 0.468620217663 93% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 862.2 705.55239521 122% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 6.0 4.96107784431 121% => OK
Article: 11.0 8.76447105788 126% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 2.70958083832 37% => OK
Conjunction: 1.0 1.67365269461 60% => OK
Preposition: 6.0 4.22255489022 142% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 26.0 19.7664670659 132% => OK
Sentence length: 20.0 22.8473053892 88% => OK
Sentence length SD: 43.0074302098 57.8364921388 74% => OK
Chars per sentence: 103.423076923 119.503703932 87% => OK
Words per sentence: 20.4230769231 23.324526521 88% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.76923076923 5.70786347227 84% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 5.25449101796 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 6.0 8.20758483034 73% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 3.0 6.88822355289 44% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 17.0 4.67664670659 364% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.274494576814 0.218282227539 126% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0798406837266 0.0743258471296 107% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0690539560476 0.0701772020484 98% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.154547052561 0.128457276422 120% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0800663254053 0.0628817314937 127% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.6 14.3799401198 88% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 51.18 48.3550499002 106% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.1 12.197005988 91% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.07 12.5979740519 96% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.11 8.32208582834 97% => OK
difficult_words: 117.0 98.500998004 119% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.5 12.3882235529 69% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.0 11.1389221557 90% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.9071856287 76% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 50.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.0 Out of 6
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.