Practice question · Multiple choice
A control group receives no treatment, which produces no data about the treatment. Why is it nevertheless essential?
Hints
- Ask what you would conclude from an improvement with no comparison.
- The control measures the counterfactual.
Show the answer
D. Because it shows what would have happened anyway
Why
The control supplies the baseline the effect is measured against. Without it you have a before-and-after, which cannot distinguish the treatment from everything else that happened meanwhile.
Practise Scientific Method and Experimental Design
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