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Chapter 5: Q20P (page 115)

Olympic athletes are tested to see if they are using illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Suppose that urine samples are taken and analyzed and the rate of false positive results is 1 %. Suppose also that it is too expensive to refine the method to reduce the rate of false positive results. We do not want to accuse innocent people of using illegal drugs. What can you do to reduce the rate of false accusations even though the test always has a false positive rate of 1 %?

Short Answer

Expert verified

They should choose to increase the number of replicates for the test samples in order to dramatically reduce the occurrence of false positive errors.

Step by step solution

01

Definition of false positive rate

  • The false positive rate is the percentage of all negatives that result in positive test results, or the conditional probability of a positive test result in the absence of an event.
  • The significance level is equivalent to the false positive rate.
02

Determine to reduce the rate of false accusations and test always has a false positive rate of 1%

  • They should choose to increase the number of replicates for the test samples in order to dramatically reduce the occurrence of false positive errors.
  • If two independent samples are used in the test (for example, both drawn at the same time), the error can be reduced from 1% to 0.01 percent.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

How can you validate precision and accuracy?

Consider a sample that contains analyte at the detection limit defined in Figure. Explain the following statements: There is approximately a 1%chance of falsely concluding that a sample containing no analyte contains analyte above the detection limit. There is a50%chance of concluding that a sample that really contains analyte at the detection limit does not contain analyte above the detection limit.

Standard addition graph. Students performed an experiment like that in Figure 5-7 in which each flask contained 25.00mLof serum, varying additions of 2.640MNaCIstandard, and a total volume of 50.00mL.


(a) Prepare a standard addition graph and find [Na+]in the serum.

(b) Find the standard deviation and 95%confidence interval for [Na+].

What is the difference between repeatability and reproducibility? Define the following terms: instrument precision, intra-assay precision, intermediate precision, and interlaboratory precision. Which type of precision is a synonym for reproducibility?

What are the three parts of quality assurance? What questions are asked in each part and what actions are taken in each part?
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