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Reliable Control Groups

Decent Essays

The scientific experiment is the cornerstone of modern science and technology. Many of our advancements, like the lightbulb and the widespread use of electricity, owe credit to a properly set up experiment. Successfully setting up a valid experiment requires three main parts, but must also have an emphasis on safety. These parts include a properly set up control group, an independent variable in which you control the experiment, a dependent variable that is your effect being measured, and have all the necessary safety equipment required. The first thing that a budding scientist must do is set up the control group. A control group is the standard group in the experiment, and because of this it must be free from all outside factors and influence. Keeping the control group isolated and without influence makes sure that the group is reliable and valid. Having a reliable control group is important because you use this group as the “norm” in which you …show more content…

An independent variable is a component of the experiment that you, the experimenter, have control over and manipulate. For example, if I was to try to create an experiment that shows how much different amounts of a painkiller reduced the pain felt by the patient during small procedures in the hospital, the amount of this drug given to each patient would be the independent variable of that experiment. Then, as a result of manipulating the independent variable, the dependent variable comes into the experiment, in the form of results. The dependent variable is the measurable results that occur after the independent variable is applied to a group. In the experiment involving the painkillers and their varying effects on patients, the dependent variable would be how much pain each patient felt during their operation. It is important to have a dependent variable because the entire experiment is based upon the results acquired from this

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