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I have these two scenarios 1 and 2 in both of which a subject is put to an experiment but in two different environments. Each of these scenarios has two different forms, in one the subject has information x and in the other has not. How may I call each of these forms. For example, what word is a good choice for the blank in the following sentence?
In the first ... of the first scenario, the subject has information x.
The words I have in mind but am not sure about are "variation" and "variant".
Case, according to Cambridge Dictionary:
" a particular situation or example of something"
Another word that could be used is instance, according to ODO:
"A particular case."
In your example:
In the first case of the first scenario, the subject has information x.
In the first instance of the first scenario, the subject has information x.
1 "Case Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary." Cambridge Dictionary. Accessed March 24, 2018. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/case.
2 "Case Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary." Cambridge Dictionary. Accessed March 24, 2018. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/case.
In research experiments, you usually hear:
experimental group and control group.
In medicine this is usually treatment group and placebo group (the control).
The sample or group receiving the drug would be the experimental group (treatment group); and the one receiving the placebo or regular treatment would be the control one.
Experiment
In contemporary behavioral and social research, scientific experimentation means comparing experimental groups to control groups and establishing the statistical significance of the resulting averages.
Encyclopedia of Statistics in Behavioral Science
