Find a controversial health or medical theory on the Internet, and design a study to test it. Indicate the makeup and characteristics of any group in the study, whether a placebo group is used, whether the study is double-blind, and what study results would, in principle, confirm and disconfirm the theory.

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Step-by-step explanation

Steam inhalation has been one of the controversial methods that were contested by the scientific community and the public to be truly effective against COVID-19. It is regarded as a traditional home remedy which was seen as effective in treating respiratory diseases, such as common cold, influenza, flue, bronchiolitis, among others (Swain and Sahu, 2021). As research shows that  COVID 19 manifests similar symptoms due to viral access to the host, it was hypothesized that steam inhalation works effectively as well. Steam has a significant effect in improving defense of the host, physiological immunity, and adaptiveness to thermoregulatory mechanisms introduced to the body. Steam is applied at a temperature at a range of 70-80C which is deemed enough to introduce another tier of defense to the body through heat stress to combat fever symptoms (Schiener and Ayres, 2016).  

Although some medical practitioners and households have adapted the practice of steam inhalation, scientific evidence still needs to be reinforced to regard it as a method that alleviates the symptoms of COVID 19.  This study attempts to add baseline data with regards to the effectiveness of steam inhalation in COVID 19 treatment. 

In this study, asymptomatic patients with an age range of 20-30 years and with no history of underlying diseases or complications will be gathered and treated the same in a medical facility. The patients will be divided into two groups: one group receiving steam inhalation therapy once a day while the other will not. More than 30 respondents should be gathered for each group. The same medical attention will be given to the two groups nonetheless, to avoid the presence of other variables. The independent variable is the treatment with steam inhalation while the dependent variable  is the self assessment rating from 1-10 with 1 feeling poorly while 10 feeling better. Hence, the null hypothesis is that steam inhalation is not effective in improving COVID-19 symptoms while the alternate hypothesis claims that steam inhalation is effective. 

There is no placebo group as the patients will know if they have been subjected to steam therapy or not. There is no blinding also present in this study as the researchers and the participants know which group the respondents belong.

In this case, a control group is just established that is those not receiving steam inhalation therapy.  The patients will be monitored for 10 days and will be assessed on the 1st, 3rd, and 10th day. Statistical tools (ANOVA) will be used to evaluate whether there is a significant improvement in how COVID patients feel after receiving COVID-19 treatment.