Dr.Noyd conducts an experiment to determine whether talking to a psychiatrist makes depressed people less depressed.He randomly divides participants who scored highly on a depressive inventory into two groups.Group A discusses their problems with a psychiatrist while Group B does nothing.He finds that Group A shows significantly more improvement in their depression than does Group B.In Dr.Noyd's experiment,the experimental group refers to the ____.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The experimental group refers to the group of individuals who discuss their problems with a psychiatrist (Group A). They are the ones receiving the treatment (talking to a psychiatrist) and are being compared to the control group (Group B) who does not receive any treatment. Therefore, the correct answer is B. Choice A refers to differences observed, which does not specifically refer to any group. Choice C refers to the scores on the depressive inventory, which were used to identify the participants but not to differentiate between the experimental and control groups. Choice D refers to the process of assigning participants randomly to the two groups, but this does not define the experimental group itself.

DrNoyd Conducts an Experiment to Determine Whether Talking to a Psychiatrist