Okuzeka
Psychology vocabulary · Research Methods and Statistics

Control group

Meaning in psychology, with examples

nounCore term

In psychology, control group means: The group in a study that does not receive the treatment or manipulation being tested, so that its results can be compared with those of the group that does.

In Turkish: kontrol grubu

How it is used

Common in experiments and clinical trials. A control group may receive nothing, a placebo or usual care, or wait for treatment (a wait-list control). The other group is the experimental, treatment or intervention group.

Example sentences

  1. The control group completed the same questionnaires but received no training.

  2. Without a control group, we cannot tell whether symptoms improved because of therapy or simply over time.

Common collocations

  • wait-list control group
  • placebo control group
  • compared with the control group
  • assign to the control group
  • experimentA study in which the researcher deliberately changes one factor and measures the effect on another, while keeping other conditions as constant as possible.
  • random assignmentPlacing participants into the groups of a study by chance, so that each person has an equal chance of being in any group and the groups are similar at the start.
  • independent variableThe factor that a researcher deliberately changes or compares in a study to see whether it causes changes in another variable.
  • confounding variableAn extra variable linked to both the supposed cause and the outcome, so that it may explain an apparent effect instead of the variable being studied.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Research Methods and Statistics

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level:

This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.