Interventionsgruppe

Interventionsgruppe is used in German-language and international research to denote the experimental group that receives the intervention under study. In randomized or quasi-randomized designs, participants are allocated to the interventionsgruppe and to a control group (Kontrollgruppe) that does not receive the experimental intervention or receives standard care or a placebo.

In randomized controlled trials, random assignment aims to balance known and unknown factors across groups. The interventionsgruppe may receive a drug, a behavioral therapy, an educational program, or a policy change, whereas the Kontrollgruppe may receive no treatment or an alternative standard treatment.

Outcomes are measured to assess effectiveness, including symptom changes, functional improvement, or the incidence of targeted events. Effect sizes are reported as differences between groups, risk differences, relative risks, or hazard ratios, depending on the outcome type.

Limitations include biases, attrition, contamination between groups, and placebo or Hawthorne effects. Ethical considerations cover informed consent, safety monitoring, data integrity, and maintaining genuine equipoise about the intervention’s potential benefits.

The term is common in medical, psychological, educational, and social science research.