Placebo Effects of Caffeine on Cycling Performanc Coursework

Placebo Effects of Caffeine on Cycling Performanc - Coursework Example For instance, Clark et al conducted a research where subjects where divided in to three groups. However, his research could not provide correct results on the cause of placebo effect since half the subjects had prior knowledge that carbohydrates would increase their performance. The third group had prior knowledge that their drink could lead to improved performance hence the researcher could not control the findings of the research. The research study used a sample of seven cyclists and used both quantitative and qualitative methods of study. The cyclists were not aware that placebo capsules were administered since they thought it was caffeine. Two baseline and three experimental trials were used. The research is beneficial since it utilized semi-structured interviews to explore the symptoms of the capsules. The level of confidence error provided in the research is sufficient for us to conclude the findings are true. The research suffers from various theoretical and methodological limitations since cyclists were selected from well-trained competitive teams hence they could have increased their performance without use of caffeine. The subjects had prior literature from published research on the positive relationship of caffeine and cycling performance. The research method was flawed since it only selected only seven cyclists from the age of thirty to forty one years hence the sample surveyed was insufficient. Fo r instance, the power output of the fourth subject varied up to 20 percent between adjacent trials which the research has not explained the causes of the variance in the power output (Jackson 170). The subjected were exposed to three different conditions which are moderate dose, high dose and randomly assigned double blind basis hence the research study ignored the optimum control of the amount of caffeine which subjects could take.