i’m writing a paper on the effects of marijuana. according to an article in the Arizona Times, there has been a recent study on the effects of marijuana on the brains of rhesus monkeys. the article says that this study has more monkeys (62, i believe, as opposed to the 16 used in the earlier study) and that the study is more advanced and accurate. so fill in the blank “More recent studies which used better ___ have claimed they found no brain damage in monkeys exposed to marijuana smoke.” the closest word i can think of is “circumstances”; but that’s not very scientific. my mom suggested “controls”; but i don’t think that’s it either.
by the way, can anyone think of an interesting title for my paper? it’s basically saying that marijuana is harmful, but not as harmful as alcohol and that drug education and treatment need to be implemented in along with the current penalties etc. to better prevent marijuana use. so far, all i can think of use the phrases “up in smoke”, “reefer madness”, and “can’t we all just hit a bong?”.
“methods”
Rephrase the sentence maybe. “[After evidence of marijuana being harmful etc] More recent studies, conducted under more controlled conditions, have cast doubt on this idea. Monkeys which were made to inhale marijuana smoke showed no signs of brain damage.”
If you use this, you must be tried for crimes against the English language. Also, do you remember the source of that quote? Not the associations you’d be wanting.
I don’t know why, but people here don’t take too kindly to helping with homework.
“More recent studies which used larger sample sizes have claimed they found no brain damage in monkeys exposed to marijuana smoke.”
c R I T E R I A
?I think data would do.
“Parameters” is the word I’d use here.
lambchop, no, i don’t know the origin of this. my sister heard it in a chatroom a couple years ago and we thought it was funny.
spingears that might be it.
conczepts, it’s one word for god’s sakes. and the title isn’t all that important. besides, what’s the difference between getting one’s info from books or the net? in fact, we aren’t really allowed to use that much of our own info without backing it up with someone else’s.
Controls?
Whoops sorry missed the last sentence there lol.
Not controls.
“a more robust experimental design”?
I suppose there’s no difference, as long as you cite your sources. I agree that you don’t need to put someone in your bibliography for one single word. But in general, the difference between books and message boards is that books would usually be more accurate, and I don’t know how you’d cite a message board if you got information from it. I guess just as a website.
We do not take kindly to being asked to write kids’ entire term papers when they should be doing their own work or looking up simple facts that are easily available on Wikipedia or through Google. I think we can cut someone some slack for seeking help to find a single particular word when using the thesaurus at m-w.com is not likely to provide a satisfactory solution.
GMRyujin’s “methods” works, as does “methodology.”
I’m not sure that “controls” really indicates what you need.
As conczepts indicated, what is really needed in the sentence is the actual improvement. Was it, indeed, merely a wider selection/greater population (which implies less chance of variable error)? Or was the study improved by better techniques of analysis? The blank should be filled with actual information rather than a generic word. Improved methodology (or improved controls or more rigorous protocols) may have boosted the accuracy of the tests, but whatever caused the improvement should be named explicitly.
Whoa, whoa, WHOA. I don’t know how you interpret this:
(bolding added)
but that to me, means “conczepts does not have a problem helping with homework so he will try to help you, but threads have been closed for being ‘homework-ey’ before, so be careful”. I am your friend. 
gypsymoth, Rodney King said “Why can’t we all just get along” or something similar just before he was brutally beaten by the LAPD in 1991. (An orang hutan said it in the Planet of the Apes remake - what a bloody disgrace)
I would reword. While “methodology” would fill in your blank well enough, what you’re really talking about is experimental design. Thus, “More recently, better designed studies found…” (bonus hint: studies do not claim things; reports might claim things, but really, only people claim things)
My vote would be, in order of preference:
[ol][li]better methodology[/li]
[li]better experimental design[/li]
[li]better parameters[/li]
[li]better doodads[/li][/ol]
Peace.