The researcher is conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT).
What is it about?
In an RCT, participants are randomly assigned to either a treatment group or a control group, and the purpose is to assess the effectiveness of a particular intervention or treatment.
In this case, the researcher is likely studying a variation of IPT (Interpersonal Psychotherapy) as a treatment for depression in patients with bipolar disorder. The random assignment helps control for potential biases and ensures that any observed effects can be attributed to the treatment rather than other factors.
An RCT is a type of scientific experiment, typically used in clinical research, to evaluate the effectiveness of a treatment or intervention. It involves randomly assigning participants to different groups to ensure that each group is comparable at the beginning of the study.