Control condition

From EvaluationWiki

The situation in which a control group is placed and maintained, in an experiment that has both an experimental and a control group. Normally, this will be the zero-treatment condition, or else we would use the term 'comparison condition.' But the control group is often, in drug experiments, given a placebo, which is not a zero-treatment although it is often assumed to be zero-treatment, so usage is somewhat imprecise. (A placebo is pharmacologically a zero treatment, but it is not psychologically a zero treatment, and both effects are usually relevant.) It then still qualifies as a comparison group, but not as a zero-treatment control group.