https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Imagifightexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2026-05-01T01:55:50ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=790:_Control&diff=113172790: Control2016-02-23T06:44:00Z<p>Imagifight: /* Transcript */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 790<br />
| date = September 8, 2010<br />
| title = Control<br />
| image = control.png<br />
| titletext = Which, at one point, led to a study showing that LSD produces no more hallucinations than a placebo.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
In a product experiment, two groups of people are given a certain pill or lotion. Some people are given the product to be tested, while others (the control group) are given a placebo; nobody is told which group they belong to. The control group acts as a norm for comparison against the others.<br />
<br />
Randall has messed with this process by giving LSD ({{w|lysergic acid diethylamide}}) to the control group. LSD is a drug that causes hallucinations and distortions in the perception of time and space. [[Megan]], apparently a control, is experiencing spiders in her hallucinations. Since the control group is supposed to reflect what "normally" happens, this is indeed very confusing to the scientists.<br />
<br />
However, given the scientists are confused, this means that they must know which person is in which group. This implies that the trial isn't double-blinded, which in and of itself would impact the veracity of the study. In a properly double-blinded study, the scientists would not know [[Megan]] was the control and would only dutifully record their observations.<br />
<br />
The title text suggests that, in a different study, this substitution was performed when the product being tested was itself LSD. This lead to the conclusion that LSD is no more likely to cause hallucinations than a placebo, somehow implying that LSD is not a hallucinogen. We can only hope they were able to redo the test, as in layman's terms "Nonsense MUST be wrong".<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Caption above the frame:]<br />
:My Hobby:<br />
<br />
:[Cueball looks down at his arm calmly, while next to him Megan is violently flailing around in terror. In the foreground a Cueball-like guy stands next to Ponytail who is holding a clipboard. They look on in puzzlement.]<br />
:Cueball: My rash seems to have shrunk by about 20% today.<br />
:Megan: OH GOD SPIDERS<br />
:Cueball-like guy: ? ?<br />
:Ponytail: ?<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the frame:]<br />
:Sneaking into experiments and <br />
:giving LSD to the control group.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:My Hobby]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br />
[[Category:Spiders]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]</div>Imagifight