Final answer:
An experiment is a type of study that imposes treatment on individuals to observe the effects on response variables, aiming to provide evidence for causation between the independent and dependent variables.
Step-by-step explanation:
The study that deliberately imposes treatment on individuals, measures the response variables of interest, and delivers strong evidence for causation is known as an experiment. Experimental studies often involve randomly assigning subjects to experimental and control groups, the latter typically receiving a placebo treatment. The key aim is to observe the differences in response between these groups when only one variable, the independent variable, has been manipulated. This controlled manipulation allows researchers to infer causation between the independent variable and the observed effects on the dependent variable, also known as the response variable. Experiments are highly regulated in terms of design and ethics to eliminate the effects of lurking variables and ensure internal validity, hence providing a strong foundation for establishing causal relationships.