When you use procedures like placebos and double-blind conditions, you are attempting to set up ____ for factors that would make your experimental findings questionable.
A. controls
B. treatments
C. selections
D. cases
the answer is not cases
The correct answer is A. controls.
When conducting experiments, it is essential to account for any factors that could affect the results and make the findings questionable. One statistical technique used to achieve this is creating control groups. Control groups are groups of participants who are treated identically to the experimental group, except they are not exposed to the experimental treatment.
Procedures like placebos and double-blind conditions are employed to ensure a proper control group. Placebos are inactive substances or treatments that closely resemble the actual treatment being tested. They are given to the control group so that any observed effects can be compared to the effects of the actual treatment in the experimental group.
Double-blind conditions refer to an experimental design where both the researchers and the participants are unaware of who is in the experimental group and who is in the control group. This helps eliminate bias and ensure that the results are not influenced by the expectations of the researchers or participants.
By putting in place these procedures, such as placebos and double-blind conditions, researchers aim to control for any extraneous factors that could invalidate the experimental findings and hence, increase the rigor and reliability of the experiment.