Have you ever read a headline announcing a “breakthrough treatment” or a study claiming something dramatically improves health, learning, or behaviour and wondered how scientists actually know that change was caused by what they tested? In research, proving that something works isn’t just about seeing improvement, it’s about showing that the improvement wouldn’t have happened. That’s where one of the most fundamental building blocks of scientific experiments comes in: control groups and experimental groups. These two groups allow researchers to separate real effects from coincidence, natural change, or outside influences and without them, it would be almost impossible to trust the results of most scientific studies.
Experimental Group:
This is the group that does get the treatment/drug/change being tested. The change, if any, is observed, and then compared to the control group.
Control Group:
This is a group that doesn’t receive the change / experimental treatment being tested. This is used as a baseline, which is then used to compare to the effects of the experimental group.
These groups are really important - saying your new drug results in decreased tumour growth after a 48 hour period is great! But…..when you look at the growth of this particular cancer line on its own…its growth rate decreases after 48 hours anyway. So, this great new drug doesn't really do anything at all when you compare the experimental group (the tumour that received the new drug) and the control group (the tumour of the same cancer type that didn’t receive the drug)
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