Control Group
A control group is a comparative study group (from a controlled experiment) whose controlled group members do not receive an experimental treatment.
- AKA: Normal Control/Comparator Control Group.
- Context:
- It can range from being a Randomized Controlled Experiment Control Group to being a Non-Randomized Control Group.
- It can a Matched Control Group (to a Comparator Treatment Group?).
- It can range from being Negative Control Group to being a Positive Control Group.
- It can (typically) isolate the Independent Variable's Effects on the Scientific Experiment (unless there is control group contamination)
- It can help rule out alternate explanations of the Experimental Results.
- Example(s):
- Counter-Example(s):
- See: False Test Instance, Cohort Group, Crossover Experiment.
References
2013a
- (Wikipedia, 2013) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_control
- A 'scientific control is an experiment or observation designed to minimize the effects of variables other than the single independent variable. This increases the reliability of the results, often through a comparison between control measurements and the other measurements. Scientific controls are a part of the scientific method.
For example, during drug testing, scientists will try to control two groups to keep them as identical as possible, then allow one group to try the drug. Another example might be testing plant fertilizer by giving it to only half the plants in a garden: the plants that receive no fertilizer are the control group, because they establish the baseline level of growth that the fertilizer-treated plants will be compared against. Without a control group, the experiment cannot determine whether the fertilizer-treated plants grow more than they would have if untreated.
Ideally, all variables in an experiment will be controlled (accounted for by the control measurements) and none will be uncontrolled. In such an experiment, if all the controls work as expected, it is possible to conclude that the experiment is working as intended and that the results of the experiment are due to the effect of the variable being tested. That is, scientific controls allow an investigator to make a claim like "Two situations were identical until factor X occurred. Since factor X is the only difference between the two situations, the new outcome was caused by factor X."
- A 'scientific control is an experiment or observation designed to minimize the effects of variables other than the single independent variable. This increases the reliability of the results, often through a comparison between control measurements and the other measurements. Scientific controls are a part of the scientific method.
2013b
- (Wikipedia, 2013) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_control#Controlled_experiments
- There are many forms of controlled experiments. A relatively simple one separates research subjects or specimens into two groups: an experimental group and a control group. No treatment is given to the control group, while the experimental group is changed according to some key variable of interest, and the two groups are otherwise kept under the same conditions.
Controls eliminate alternate explanations of experimental results, especially experimental errors and experimenter bias. Many controls are specific to the type of experiment being performed, as in the molecular markers used in SDS-PAGE experiments, and may simply have the purpose of ensuring that the equipment is working properly. The selection and use of proper controls to ensure that experimental results are valid (for example, absent of confounding variables) can be very difficult. Control measurements may also be used for other purposes: for example, a measurement of a microphone's background noise in the absence of a signal allows the noise to be subtracted from later measurements of the signal, thus producing a processed signal of higher quality.
For example, if a researcher feeds an experimental artificial sweetener to sixty laboratory rats and observes that ten of them subsequently become sick, the underlying cause could be the sweetener itself or something unrelated. Other variables, which may not be readily obvious, may interfere with the experimental design. For instance, perhaps the rats were simply not supplied with enough food or water, or the water was contaminated and undrinkable, or the rats were under some psychological or physiological stress, etc. Eliminating each of these possible explanations individually would be time-consuming and difficult. However, if a control group is used that does not receive the sweetener but is otherwise treated identically, any difference between the two groups can be ascribed to the sweetener itself with much greater confidence.
- There are many forms of controlled experiments. A relatively simple one separates research subjects or specimens into two groups: an experimental group and a control group. No treatment is given to the control group, while the experimental group is changed according to some key variable of interest, and the two groups are otherwise kept under the same conditions.
2011a
- (Wikipedia, 2011) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatment_group
- In the design of experiments, treatments are applied to experimental units in the treatment group(s), while no treatments would be applied to members of a control group.
When analyzing data, the treatments are specified either as numerical values or as levels of a factor. When several different treatments are being studied at the same time, a given subject or item in the experiment would be described by values or factors associated with each of the different treatments, as well as by any observed outcomes from the experiment.
- In the design of experiments, treatments are applied to experimental units in the treatment group(s), while no treatments would be applied to members of a control group.
2011b
- (Wikipedia, 2011) ⇒ http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryterminology/a/What-Is-A-Control-Group.htm
- 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 alternate explanations of the experimental results. … Control groups are not necessary to all scientific experiments. Controls are extremely useful where the experimental conditions are complex and difficult to isolate.
2009
- US National Institute of Health. “IUPAC Glossary of Terms Used in Toxicology."
- control group: Selected subjects of study, identified as a rule before a study is done, which comprises humans, animals, or other species who do not have the disease, intervention, procedure or whatever is being studied, but in all other respects are as nearly identical to the test group as possible.
- matched control: Control (individual or group or case) selected to be similar to a study individual or group, or case, in specific characteristics: some commonly used matching variables are age, sex, race and socio-economic status.
1998
- (Murray, 1998) ⇒ David Murray. (1998). “Design and Analysis of Group Randomized Trials." Oxford University Press. ISBN:0195120361
- QUOTE: The second distinguishing characteristics of a group-randomized trial is that difference units of assignment are allocated to each study condition. This action nests the assignment units within the study conditions. In each of the examples above, one set of schools, communities, or restaurants was assigned to the intervention condition while another set was assigned to the control condition.