Definitions for "COMPARISON GROUP"
individuals whose characteristics are similar to those of your program participants; these individuals do not receive any services, or receive a different set of services than those you are evaluating.
A group of individuals whose characteristics are similar to those of a program's participants. These individuals may not receive any services, or they may receive a different set of services, activities, or products; in no instance do they receive the same services as those being evaluated. As part of the evaluation process, the experimental group (those receiving program services) and the comparison group are assessed to determine which types of services, activities, or products provided by the program produced the expected changes.
A group that is exposed to all the conditions of a study except for the variable being tested; in Scientific Learning outcomes studies, the variable being tested is the Fast ForWord product.