A researcher is studying the formation of political attitudes in a group of individuals. Some of the individuals are exposed to several fake news stories to determine if the stories affect their attitudes while others are not. The exposed individuals are called the ______.

Question

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The test group is the group of individuals who are exposed to a specific variable (in this case, fake news stories) in order to determine if that variable affects their attitudes. The other options are not as applicable in this scenario. Guinea pigs typically refer to small animals used in scientific experiments, but not humans. The control group is a group that is not exposed to the variable being tested and serves as a point of comparison, but they are not the ones being exposed to the fake news stories in this study. Lastly, the term "subjects" is generally avoided in modern research ethics to avoid objectifying individuals and treating them more like objects than humans with agency.

A Researcher Is Studying the Formation of Political Attitudes in a Group