Unit 3: Experiment Design Terms

Question 1

Observation study

Answer 1

observe outcomes without imposing any treatment

Question 2

Experiment

Answer 2

actively impose a randomly assigned treatment in order to observe the response

Question 3

Control group

Answer 3

a group that is used to compare the factor against; can be placebo

Question 4

placebo

Answer 4

an inactive treatment that can have no physical effect; not required in every experiment

Question 5

blinding

Answer 5

method used so that units or evaluators do not know which treatment units are getting

Question 6

double blinding

Answer 6

neither the units nor the evaluators know which treatment a subject received

Question 7

confounding variable

Answer 7

an explanatory variable that was considered in the study whose effect can’t be distinguished from other explanatory variables in the study
ex: sunlight and type of fertilizer on plant growth. diet and exercise on weight loss.