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Can anyone explain why choice 'C' is incorrect?
When McKinley suggests that the drug would cause various effects in a patient's body, isn't he inferring that placebo might not cause any effects in a patient. Thereby, making it easy to identify the patients who were given the new drug ?

When Engle counters McKinley's argument by stating that McKinley assumes the outcome of the study, he is referring to the immediate effects after administering a drug rather than an after effect of a drug. He is not assuming that placebo will have NO effect on patient's body.
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Answer D

Efficacy = Effectiveness; power to produce desired result
Therapeutic Effect = Healing / curing effect
Placebo = Harmless pill. Has no healing effect.

Mckinley:
She wants to check the effectiveness of the new drug.

There are 2 effects of the new drug:

1 - Therapeutic Effect - This is the desired healing effect of the new drug. For example - Curing a cold.
2 - Known side effects - This is the add-on effect of the new drug, usually negative. For example - Upset stomach.

As per Mckinley, both these effects are visible and easily point towards using the actual drug (as against using a placebo, which has no effect).

Engle:
When Engle states that Mckinley assumes to know the outcome, Engle refers to the Therapeutic / healing effect of the new drug. As per Engle, Mckinley assumes to know the healing effect of the drug even before testing the drug.

This is the flaw in Engle’s thought process.

Engle is missing the 2nd point that Mckinley might be referring to the side effects of the drug - which can help identify the drug during the double-blind study, but will NOT cure the disease, which is the aim of the study (testing the efficacy of the drug).

So, Mckinley can still draw the conclusion about the usage of the drug during the double-blind study without knowing the healing effect / therapeutic effect / efficacy of the drug.
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dont think this is a great question - to the extent the explanations for D are useful, C is much more clear cut.
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