A 9th grade class is chosen for an experiment. A random half of the students receive specialized one-on-one tutoring in the classroom twice a week. The other half of the students work in study groups in the same classroom as the one-on-one students. The experiment shows that test scores increased at the same rate for both experimental and control conditions. This is surprising, given that almost every other study of this specialized training showed dramatic improvements in the treatment group. What might be going on in this experiment?

Question

hockeychick23 · Answer

A. Both groups experienced a placebo effect
B. The double blind procedure masked the differences
C. The blocking design was flawed
D. The treatment group was not separate enough from the control group 
E. There's no real treatment

hockeychick23 · Answer

@satellite73 @jim_thompson5910

dumbcow · Answer

They were not separated , so it altered the results

jim_thompson5910 · Answer

dumbcow has a point. Maybe the fact that they're in the same room means that one group affects the other?

hockeychick23 · Answer

i was thinking both groups experienced a placebo effect, does that mean I'm wrong? @dumbcow

jim_thompson5910 · Answer

Those that worked one-on-one with a tutor should not have experienced the placebo effect. This is because their scores increased due to the tutor helping them out. 

The other students experienced the placebo effect because their scores increased, but in any other cases, they usually don't. In a way, the first group of students and the tutors may have affected the second group.

hockeychick23 · Answer

oh this was the textbook definition i got

hockeychick23 · Answer

@jim_thompson5910

jim_thompson5910 · Answer

what about the definition?

hockeychick23 · Answer

Well the last part of the definition talking about the control group was what made me think that might be right