What Is a Positive Control in Microbiology?

“Control” Is a Confusing Word

Ask a child what a control is and he’ll likely point to the TV remote. Ask a statistician the same question, and he’ll tell you it’s a variable that can cause problems in an experiment. But ask a microbiologist and she’ll tell you that a control is a duplicate experiment run with a different experimental group of subjects or treatments. According to the College of Charleston, microbiologists see controls as necessary, using them to check t