Definition of Experimental Group
(noun) In an experiment, the group exposed to the independent variable.
Experimental Group Pronunciation
Syllabification: ex·per·i·men·tal group
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /ik-spair-uh-mEnt-l grOOp/
- British English – /ik-spe-ri-mEntl grOOp/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ɪkˌspɛrɪˈmɛntəl grup/
- British English – /ɛksˌpɛrɪˈmɛntl gruːp/
Usage Notes
- Plural: experimental groups
- Typical experiments require an experimental group (exposed to independent variable) and a control group (not exposed to independent variable).
- Also called treatment group.
Related Video
Additional Information
- Quantitative Research Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “experimental” and “group” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
Related Terms
- attribute
- cohort
- control group
- correlation
- data
- inferential statistics
- reliability
- spurious correlation
- statistics
- survey
Contributor: C. E. Seaman
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Cite the Definition of Experimental Group
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Seaman, C. E. 2015. “experimental group.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary, edited by Kenton Bell. Retrieved November 28, 2023 (https://sociologydictionary.org/experimental-group/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
Seaman, C. E. (2015). experimental group. In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/experimental-group/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Seaman, C. E. 2015. “experimental group.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary, edited by Kenton Bell. Accessed November 28, 2023. https://sociologydictionary.org/experimental-group/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
Seaman, C. E. “experimental group.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2015. Web. 28 Nov. 2023. <https://sociologydictionary.org/experimental-group/>.