How Do You Conduct A True Experiment?
• Determine what treatment is going to be studied. Is the treatment a medicine, a diet plan, etc? • Choose the subjects that will be a part of the study. • This should be done at random as to include diverse ages, medical histories, environmental backgrounds, race and gender. The exception to this would be if the study is specific to a particular age, gender, or any other distinct group. For example effectiveness of oral contraceptives would not be tested among males. • It is also important to select a group large enough to produce statistically valid data. A group that is too small will lead to results that are not representative of an entire population. However, a group that is too large will make managing the study difficult. • Divide subjects into two groups at random; one that will be the control and one that will receive the treatment being tested. • The control group will be given a placebo or an alternative form of treatment and will provide a baseline result to which the treat
