PSC 168 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Endophenotype, Pathognomonicity, Observer-Expectancy Effect
Document Summary
Characteristics of clinical research: operational definitions- researchers are accountable for how they define a variable in placebo effect- people improve simply by the belief that they are getting help. Experimental group: participants exposed to the treatment or intervention. Control group: participants are treated in ways that are very similar to the experimental group, but they do not receive an intervention or receive less of independent variable. Waiting list control- assessed before and after (same time while experimental group is assessed) but they are not receiving any help. Outside experiences differ among participants (will affect results) simply because you are randomly assigned does not mean that participants will not try to compensate for the fact that they were not placed in the experimental group vs. waitlist group. Placebo group: controls for expectations that treatment will work. In drug trials, the placebo is a sugar pill (inert drug).
