Double-blind

Double-blind describes an especially stringent way of conducting an experiment on living, conscious subjects, in particular humans. A blind experiment is designed so that individuals do not know whether they are so-called "test" subjects or members of an "experimental control" group. In a double-blind experiment, the researchers as well do not know to which group the individuals belong or which treatment they are receiving. Only after all the data is recorded and in some cases analyzed may researchers be permitted to learn which individuals are which. Performing an experiment in double-blind fashion is a way to lessen the influence of prejudices on the results.

Strictly speaking, every researcher who interacts with or treats a subject should be blinded, if an experiment is to be designated "double-blind." This situation is easily arranged when the treatment being tested is a drug, the appearance of which may be simulated with a colored pill or solution. But with surgerical procedures, for example, a surgeon inevitably knows whether it is the procedure or a sham that he or she is performing. The evaluation of such procedures can be approximately double-blind; if the researchers responsible for recording subjects' responses and analyzing the data are blinded. Such a test typically is not considered "double-blind."

See also: Randomized controlled trial