What is the control group?

What is the control group?

Control group, the standard to which comparisons are made in an experiment. A typical use of a control group is in an experiment in which the effect of a treatment is unknown and comparisons between the control group and the experimental group are used to measure the effect of the treatment.

What is the role of a control group?

The control group consists of elements that present exactly the same characteristics of the experimental group, except for the variable applied to the latter. This group of scientific control enables the experimental study of one variable at a time, and it is an essential part of the scientific method.

What makes a good control group?

A positive scientific control group is a control group that is expected to have a positive result. By using a treatment that is already known to produce an effect, the researcher can compare the test results with the (positive) control and see whether the results can match the effect of the treatment known to work..

How do you use a control group?

In a scientific study, a control group is used to establish a cause-and-effect relationship by isolating the effect of an independent variable. Researchers change the independent variable in the treatment group and keep it constant in the control group. Then they compare the results of these groups.

Which is the best definition of a control group?

Control group. Written By: Control group, the standard to which comparisons are made in an experiment. Many experiments are designed to include a control group and one or more experimental groups; in fact, some scholars reserve the term experiment for study designs that include a control group.

What is a controlled group in an experiment?

A control group in a scientific experiment is a group separated from the rest of the experiment, where the independent variable being tested cannot influence the results. This isolates the independent variable’s effects on the experiment and can help rule out alternative explanations of the experimental results.

What is a control group in a medical trial?

The control group receives either no treatment, a standard treatment whose effect is already known, or a placebo (a fake treatment). The treatment is any independent variable manipulated by the experimenters, and its exact form depends on the type of research being performed. In a medical trial, it might be a new drug or therapy.

Who is the control group in the Britannica?

Contributor to SAGE Publications’s Encyclopedia of Epidemiology (2008) whose work for that encyclopedia formed the basis of her contributions to Britannica. Control group, the standard to which comparisons are made in an experiment.