what is an experimental group

An experimental group is a group of participants in an experiment who are exposed to a particular manipulation of the independent variable. In most cases, participants are randomly assigned to either a control or experimental group. The control group is a group of participants who receive a standard treatment, a placebo, or no treatment at all. The control group is used as a basis for comparison with the experimental group, which receives the variable or treatment that the researchers are testing. The purpose of the control group is to ensure that any observed effects of the experimental treatment are not due to other factors. In some cases, there may be more than one treatment group, more than one control group, or both. Having multiple experimental groups enables researchers to vary different levels of an experimental variable and compare the effects of these changes to the control group and among each other.