Mehran heard that drinking a high protein supplement after football training would improve his muscle mass. To test his hypothesis, the experimental group would receive a high protein drink and the control group would drink only water. Who should be selected for the control group in this experiment?
A) randomly selected teammates who are given only small amounts of a protein drink
B) randomly selected teammates in training who are given a placebo instead of a protein drink
C) volunteers from the general campus population who are not given any protein drink
D) volunteers from the football team who agree to take a placebo instead of a protein drink

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The control group should be treated as similarly as possible to the experimental group except for the independent variable being tested (in this case, the high protein drink). Therefore, option B is the best choice because it involves randomly selected teammates who are receiving a drink during training, just like the experimental group, but instead of a protein drink they are receiving a placebo (a drink that looks and tastes like the high protein drink but has no actual protein in it). The other options either involve people who are still receiving some form of protein drink (options A and D) or people who are not involved in football training (option C).

Mehran Heard That Drinking a High Protein Supplement After Football