UGC-NET Research Aptitude MCQ Practice

APA — Correct:
APA uses in-text author–date citations and an alphabetical reference list. This basic structure is similar to Harvard referencing.

Chicago — Incorrect:
Chicago style is best known for its notes-and-bibliography system, which uses footnotes or endnotes. Although Chicago also provides an author–date system, APA is the expected Harvard variant in this question.

IEEE — Incorrect:
IEEE uses numbered citations in square brackets, such as [1], with references arranged numerically rather than alphabetically by author.

MLA — Incorrect:
MLA generally uses the author–page system, such as (Sharma 25). It does not normally include the publication year in the in-text citation.

One group — Incorrect:
A single group cannot separately measure treatment, placebo and no-treatment effects.

Two groups — Incorrect:
Two groups are sufficient for a simple placebo-controlled trial consisting of a treatment group and a placebo group. However, the question specifically includes a separate control group.

Three groups — Correct:
The design requires an experimental group, a placebo group and a control group.

Four groups — Incorrect:
A fourth group is unnecessary unless the study includes another treatment, dose or intervention condition.