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Blinding

Blinding

Blinding is a commonly used method of not telling participants which treatment a subject is receiving. Blinding is a critical part of a randomized control trial or RCT. It reduces the bias that affects the results. In an RCT, blinding is used in the form of a placebo. A placebo effect occurs when untreated subjects falsely believe they have received the treatment and report improved symptoms. A placebo or a dummy treatment is administered to subjects to negate the bias caused by such an effect.

Blind Procedures

Blind Procedures

Ideally, the people who observe and record the children’s behavior are unaware of who was assigned to the experimental or control group, in order to control for experimenter bias. Experimenter bias refers to the possibility that a researcher’s expectations might skew the results of the study. Remember, conducting an experiment requires a lot of planning, and the people involved in the research project have a vested interest in supporting their hypotheses. If the observers knew which child was...

The Placebo Effect

The Placebo Effect

The placebo effect occurs when people's expectations or beliefs influence or determine their experience in a given situation. In other words, simply expecting something to happen can actually make it happen.

Ethics in Research

Ethics in Research

Today, scientists agree that good research is ethical in nature and is guided by a basic respect for human dignity and safety. However, this has not always been the case. Modern researchers must demonstrate that the research they perform is ethically sound.

Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 7, 2026

How to Study Placebo Responses in Motion Sickness with a Rotation Chair Paradigm in Healthy Participants

How to Study Placebo Responses in Motion Sickness with a Rotation Chair Paradigm in Healthy Participants

Published on: December 14, 2014

Deceit and transparency in placebo research.

Stewart Justman¹

¹Director, Liberal Studies Program, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana.

The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine

|September 24, 2013

Summary

Researchers often use deception and misleading language in placebo studies to maximize the placebo effect. This contrasts with standard clinical trials where informed consent is paramount.

Area of Science:

Medical ethics
Psychology of healing
Clinical trial methodology

Background:

Placebo effect research presents ethical challenges.
Distinction between studies aiming to elicit placebo effects versus those controlling for them.

Purpose of the Study:

To examine the methods used in placebo research.
To highlight the ethical considerations of deception in eliciting placebo responses.

Main Methods:

Analysis of experimental designs in placebo studies.
Review of communication strategies employed with study participants.

Main Results:

Deception, including ambiguities and omissions, is common in placebo research.
Verbal strategies are deliberately used to influence participant responses.

Keywords:

consent deception placebo suggestion

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Even disclosed placebos can be presented misleadingly.

Conclusions:

Placebo experimentation frequently involves ethical compromises.
The language used in trials significantly impacts outcomes.
Effective clinical practice inherently possesses placebo value beyond specific treatments.