Essay On Placebo Effect

Experiments are investigations or studies we conduct in which we manipulate or alter something (treatments) and record the result and response that comes about it. This is the opposite of an observational study where no change is imposed and only observations and measurements take place. Experiments allow researchers to recognize cause and effect relationships while observational studies simply expose associations. An experiment requires factors or explanatory variables that are hypothesized by researchers to have some impact on the response variables. One group (not the control group) is exposed to the explanatory variable (to certain level) and the outcome is then recorded. Confounding variables exist in an experiment when the researcher

These only play a comparative role to juxtapose the results obtained in a normal and natural setting with one that was altered. Yet, the division of subjects into these groups must be random in order to avoid bias or lurking variable; a predicament more difficult to regulate when researchers conduct observational studies. The placebo effect is when participants taking part in an experiment share similar responses to the treatment group even though they did not come into contact with the explanatory variable. The placebo effect results from the perceptions and beliefs that they are receiving the manipulated variable. Some people think that this unexpected reaction is a subconscious or conscious desire or need to help the researcher’s hypothesis be correctly proven, which puts in doubt whether it is the physical change made to the experiment causing the effects seen or if it is a psychological or placebo effect. Blinding is when neither the researches recording the results nor the subjects of the experiment know who are those receiving the treatment and how the separation into the control and experimental group took place. None of these are aware of who is showing the placebo effect as