Research Team
Let's check in with our research team and see how they addressed the need for controls in their research.

The meta-analysis pointed them to a series of factors that should be controlled in conformity studies that used the Asch paradigm including the gender composition of the group, whether the group is valued or not, the size of the majority, and the anonymity of the response. The research team controlled for anonymity by holding it constant; all participants were asked to make their choice aloud -- a factor that seems to increase conformity.

The group had an equal number of men and women; the participant would make the "majority" for his or her gender. The size of the majority and whether the group was valued was not controlled. The study findings did not support the team's hypothesis, so they cannot know whether college students today are less conforming or whether factors such as not valuing the group, or the size of the majority, are what produced their findings. We also know from our previous discussion that they needed to introduce some control into the sampling process by excluding students who were familiar with the Asch study.