Question

Which best describes the purpose of a control sample?

Answer 1

The purpose of a control sample is to test how something would work if you did nothing to it. For example, if you are testing how wheat grows with extra water, you would have a control sample testing how it grows with normal water. Then you would have have something to compare it to.

Due to the partial incompleteness of the question, I am not sure of the direct applicability of this solution. If you comment on my solution, I will gladly revise it.

Answer 2

The purpose of having a control sample is the possibility of having something to compare the results of your experiment.

For example with medicine, the sample that received the medicine are in X state now, this has not enough information really, you need a control sample that is in a state Y, and now you can compare the states X and Y and see how your medicine really affects the patients.

Other example is how a substance X changes the color of something, if you do not have a control sample, at the end of the experiment you can't se the actual color change, so your really need a control sample.

The control sample is called the "zero" or starting point in an experiment.