In experimental designs, a control group is the "untreated" group with which an experimental group (or treatment group) is contrasted. It consists of units of study that did not receive the treatment whose effect is under investigation. For many quasi-experimental studies, treatments are not administered to participants, as in true experimental studies. Rather, treatments are broadly construed to be the presence of certain characteristics of participants, such as female gender, adolescence, and low socioeconomic status (SES), or features of their settings, such as private schools or participation in a program of interest. Thus, the control group in quasi-experimental studies is denned to be those lacking these characteristics (e.g. males, respondents who are older or younger than adolescence, those of high and medium SES) or absent ...

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