ASSIGNMENT

RESEARCH METHOD

SUBMITTED BY
ALISHBA ATIF
F19-1532
SUBMITTED TO
SIR JAVAID IQBAL
SEMESTER 8TH
BBA(HONS)
AT
LAHORE LEADS UNIVERSITY

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TOPIC: THE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

 Introduction
Experimental design is the process of carrying out research in an objective and controlled fashion
so that precision is maximized and specific conclusions can be drawn regarding a hypothesis
statement. Generally, the purpose is to establish the effect that a factor or independent variable
has on a dependent variable. The principles of experimental design play an important role in
research that does not follow the strict tenets of hypothesis testing and this article holds relevant
information for this type of research. However, this article is primarily focused on planning
research that will utilize experimental design in order to test and validate the relationship
between and among experimental variables. Important topics germane to experimental design
include hypothesis statements, experimental control, specifying independent and dependent
variables, selection and assignment of samples or participants to conditions, collecting data, and
selecting valid statistical tests. Through accurate and precise empirical measurement and control
an experimental design increases a researcher’s ability to determine causal relationships and state
causal conclusions.
Experimental design as a subset of scientific investigation is a popular and widely used research
approach. The essence of experimental design and perhaps the most important reason researchers
choose to design and conduct experiments is the precision with which one can analyze the
relationship between and among variables and to make that analysis as objective as possible. To
look at it from another perspective, experimental design minimizes ambiguity and attempts to
eliminate confusion. A true experimental design relies on testing the relationships between and
among variables; generally speaking, one variable, the independent variable, is controlled in
order to measure its effect on other, dependent, variables. A central concern of any researcher
using experimental design must be control; in experiments, the researcher chooses an
intervention, associated with the independent variable, and controls how that intervention is
applied, or introduced, into the research setting. If the experimental design is applied correctly,
then a causal relationship can be established between the independent variable and dependent
variable(s).

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There are several steps in the development of an experiment. The
researcher must generate a research question, state a testable
hypothesis, determine how to control variability during the
experimental process, select or develop intervention conditions,
sample from a population in order to assign them to experimental
conditions, and determine what empirical measures will be made
(and how data will be recorded). There is often an important and intimate relationship between
the experimental design and the type of data that is collected and statistical approach that will be
used to analyze the data. In geography, and cognate disciplines that are interested in spatial
variation, there is a subset of research that deals with data that does not conform to all of the
assumptions central to traditional statistical tests. As a result spatial statistical tests have been
developed to account for the unique character of spatial data; these differences will be covered
briefly in a later section detailing spatial statistical approaches in geography.

A researcher can conduct experimental design in the following situations

1. When time is an important factor in establishing a relationship between the cause and
effect.
2. When there is an invariable or never-changing behavior between the cause and effect.
3. Finally, when the researcher wishes to understand the importance of the cause and effect.

 Importance of Experimental Research Design

To publish significant results, choosing a quality research design forms the foundation to build
the research study. Moreover, effective research design helps establish quality decision-making
procedures, structures the research to lead to easier data analysis, and addresses the main
research question. Therefore, it is essential to cater undivided attention and time to create an
experimental research design before beginning the practical experiment.

By creating a research design, a researcher is also giving oneself time to organize the research,
set up relevant boundaries for the study, and increase the reliability of the results. Through all
these efforts, one could also avoid inconclusive results. If any part of the research design is
flawed, it will reflect on the quality of the results derived.

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  Types of Experimental Research Designs
Based on the methods used to collect data in experimental studies, the experimental research
designs are of three primary types:

1. Pre-experimental Research Design

A research study could conduct pre-experimental research design when a group or many groups
are under observation after implementing factors of cause and effect of the research. The pre-
experimental design will help researchers understand whether further investigation is necessary
for the groups under observation.

Pre-experimental research is of three types —

1. One-shot Case Study Research Design

2. One-group Pretest-posttest Research Design
3. Static-group Comparison

2. True Experimental Research Design

A true experimental research design relies on statistical analysis to prove or disprove a
researcher’s hypothesis. It is one of the most accurate forms of research because it provides
specific scientific evidence. Furthermore, out of all the types of experimental designs, only a true
experimental design can establish a cause-effect relationship within a group. However, in a true
experiment, a researcher must satisfy these three factors —

1. There is a control group that is not subjected to changes and an experimental group that
will experience the changed variables
2. A variable that can be manipulated by the researcher
3. Random distribution of the variables

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This type of experimental design is commonly observed in the physical sciences.

3. Quasi-experimental Research Design

The word “Quasi” means similarity. A quasi-experimental design is similar to a true
experimental design. However, the difference between the two is the assignment of the control
group. In this research design, an independent variable is manipulated, but the participants of a
group are not randomly assigned. This type of research design is used in field settings where
random assignment is either irrelevant or not required.

The classification of the research subjects, conditions, or groups determines the type of research
design to be used.

 Advantages of Experimental Research Design

Experimental research allows you to test your idea in a controlled environment before taking the
research to clinical trials. Moreover, it provides the best method to test your theory because of
the following advantages:

1. Researchers have firm control over variables to obtain results.

2. The subject does not impact the effectiveness of experimental research. Anyone can
implement it for research purposes.
3. The results are specific.
4. Post results analysis, research findings from the same dataset can be repurposed for
similar research ideas.
5. Researchers can identify the cause and effect of the hypothesis and further analyze this
relationship to determine in-depth ideas.
6. Experimental research makes an ideal starting point. The collected data could be used as
a foundation to build new research ideas for further studies.

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Examples of Experimental Design

1. Action Research in The Classroom

Type: Pre-Experimental Design
A teacher wants to know if a small group activity will help students learn how to conduct a
survey. So, they test the activity out on a few of their classes and make careful observations
regarding the outcome.
The teacher might observe that the students respond well to the activity and seem to be learning
the material quickly.

2.Case Study
Type: Pre-Experimental Design
A medical doctor has a hunch that an old treatment regimen might be effective in treating a
rare illness.
The treatment has never been used in this manner before. So, the doctor applies the treatment to
two of their patients with the illness.
After several weeks, the results seem to indicate that the treatment is not causing any change in
the illness. The doctor concludes that there is no need to continue the treatment or conduct a
larger study with a control condition.

3. Fertilizer and Plant Growth Study

Type: Pre-Experimental Design
An agricultural farmer is exploring different combinations of nutrients on plant growth, so
she does a small experiment.

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Instead of spending a lot of time and money applying the different mixes to acres of land and
waiting several months to see the results, she decides to apply the fertilizer to some small plants
in the lab.

After several weeks, it appears that the plants are responding well. They are growing rapidly and
producing dense branching. She shows the plants to her colleagues and they all agree that further
testing is needed under better controlled conditions.

4.Parenting Styles and Academic Performance

Type: Quasi-Experimental Design
Psychologists want to understand how parenting style affects children’s academic
performance.
So, they identify a large group of parents that have one of four parenting styles: authoritarian,
authoritative, permissive, or neglectful.
The researchers then compare the grades of each group and discover that children raised with the
authoritative parenting style had better grades than the other three groups.

5.Economic Impact of Policy

Type: Quasi-Experimental Design
An economic policy institute has decided to test the effectiveness of a new policy on the
development of small business. The institute identifies two cities in a third-world country for
testing.
The two cities are similar in terms of size, economic output, and other characteristics.
The city in which the new policy was implemented showed a much higher growth of small
businesses than the other city.

 6.Eyewitness Testimony Study

Type: True Experimental Design
To study the how leading questions on the memories of eyewitnesses leads to retroactive
inference, Loftus and Palmer (1974) conducted a simple experiment consistent with true
experimental design.

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Research participants all watched the same short video of two cars having an accident. Each
were randomly assigned to be asked either one of two versions of a question regarding the
accident.

7.Clinical Trials
Type: True Experimental Design
Medical researchers often use true experiments to assess the effectiveness of various
treatment regimens. For a simplified example: people from the population are randomly
selected to participate in a study on the effects of a medication on heart disease.
Participants are randomly assigned to either receive the medication or nothing at all. Three
months later, all participants are contacted and they are given a full battery of heart disease tests.

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