Solomon Four-Group Design — Controlling Pretest Sensitization

The Solomon Four-Group Design extends the classic pretest-posttest control-group design by adding two groups that receive no pretest, enabling researchers to detect whether the pretest itself alters participants' responses to the treatment. Introduced by Richard L. Solomon in 1949, it remains the gold standard for isolating the independent effect of a pretest and for obtaining unbiased estimates of treatment efficacy.