Experimental research is referred to in our textbook as a way to "control the chaos." Literally, experimental research is all about control. The researcher controls every aspect of the studied environment, with the exception of the variable the researcher wants to manipulate. Because of this control, experiments are helpful in determining causation: finding out exactly what caused something else.
For an experiment, there needs to be a control and an experimental group and the groups should be randomly assigned. To be successful, a dependent variable should change because of the experimental treatment from the researcher.
In Food and Nutrition Public Relations, isolating a variable and testing the effect it causes can be quite helpful. This news release, titled "New Science Further Supports Dairy as a Major Nutrient Contributer to American Diet," is a great example. This release described research studies which uncovered data making it clear that dairy foods are extremely important in the American diets, especially with children. Accordingly, their conclusion is that higher dairy consumption leads to higher nutrient intake, better diet quality, better bone health and has been linked to the decreased risk of diseases. Also, the dairy food group was found to be the top contributer of vitamin D and also to contribute significant amounts of phosphorous and potassium.
To get to these findings, the researcher had to have isolated the variable: dairy consumption, and increased the intake in the participants of the experimental group. The control group's dairy consumption would have remained the same as when the experiment started. What then resulted after this experimental treatment could be evaluated and the difference could be seen between the two groups. That is how an experiment works and why it is such a beneficial research method.
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