statistical control

n. The use of statistical analysis to reduce the error introduced in an analysis by variables which are not of interest in the study. Thus if one were interested in the relationship between two personal variables and were concerned that social desirability might be a factor in self-reports, then a measure of tendency to respond in a socially desirable way to self-reports could be given along with measures of the personal variables and a regression performed examining the relationship between the two personal variables with the variance of social desirability removed.