Treatment-group versus control-group tests

Most experiments try to determine whether some type of experimental treatment (or important factor) has a significant effect on an outcome. For example, does zinc help to reduce the length of a cold? Subjects who are chosen to participate in the experiment are typically divided into two groups: a treatment group and a control group. (More than one treatment group is possible.)

The treatment group consists of participants who receive the experimental treatment whose effect is being studied (in this case, zinc tablets).

The control group consists of participants who do not receive the experimental treatment being studied. Instead, they get a placebo (a fake treatment; for example, a sugar pill); a standard, nonexperimental treatment (such as vitamin C, in the zinc study); or no treatment at all, depending on the situation.

In the end, the responses of those in the treatment group are compared with the responses from the control group to look for differences that are statistically significant (unlikely to have occurred just by chance).

Statistics For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Statistical studies often involve several kinds of experiments: treatment groups, control groups, placebos, and blind and double-blind tests. An experiment is a study that imposes a treatment (or control) to the subjects (participants), controls their environment (for example, restricting their diets, giving them certain dosage levels of a drug or placebo, or asking them to stay awake for a prescribed period of time), and records the responses.

The purpose of most experiments is to pinpoint a cause-and-effect relationship between two factors (such as alcohol consumption and impaired vision; or dosage level of a drug and intensity of side effects). Here are some typical questions that experiments try to answer:

Does taking zinc help reduce the duration of a cold? Some studies show that it does.

Does the shape and position of your pillow affect how well you sleep at night? The Emory Spine Center in Atlanta says yes.

Does shoe heel height affect foot comfort? A study done at UCLA says up to one-inch heels are better than flat soles.