Question: The most common treatment for breast cancer discovered in its early stages was once removal of the breast. It is now usual to remove only the tumor and nearby lymph nods followed by radiation. To study weather these treatments differ in their effectiveness a medical team examines a record of 25 large hospitals and compares the survival times after surgery of all women who have had either treatment.

(a) what are the explanatory and response variables?

(b) Explain carefully why this study is not an experiment

(c) Explain why confounding will prevent this study from discovering which treatment is more effective. (the current treatment was in fact recommended after several large randomized comparative experiments)