Sandy Zabell

The “gold standard” for a well-designed experiment is the double-blind, randomized controlled study. A classic example is the 1954 Salk polio vaccine trial, which involved more than a million young children: Some children selected at random were inoculated with a salt solution (the “placebo”) instead of the vaccine. The trial was carried out in a genuinely double-blind fashion, with the children, parents, and evaluating physicians all kept in the dark as to who received the vaccine vs. the placebo.

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