EDU 302 – Research Methods and Data Analysis/Processing

Lecture VI –
Research Methods II
Quantitative – Experimental Designs
Learning Objectives

 Explain how experiments produce evidence of

causality.
 Describe the different ways an independent
variable can be manipulated.
 Explain the importance of control in experimental
research and how control is achieved.
 Explain the different ways of controlling the
influence of potentially confounding variables.
 Explain why some experimental research designs
are weak designs and others are strong designs.
Experiment
 Experiment is an environment in which the
researcher attempts to “objectively” observe
phenomena that are made to occur in a strictly
controlled situation in which one or more variables
are varied and the others are kept constant.
 This means that we observe a person’s response
(phenomena) to a set of conditions that the
experimenter presents.
 The observations are made in an environment in
which all conditions other than the ones the
researcher presents are kept constant or controlled.
 The conditions that the researcher presents are
systematically varied (the independent variable) to
see whether a person’s responses change
(dependent variable) with the variation in these
conditions.
 Experimental Research Settings
 Field Experiment: an experimental study that is conducted in a real-life setting.
 Excellent for determining of a manipulation works in a real-world setting.
 A disadvantage is that this type of research does not control for the impact of
extraneous variables in the way a laboratory research setting does.
 Laboratory Experiment: a study conducted in a controlled environment where one or
more variable are precisely manipulated and all or nearly all extraneous variables are
controlled.
 The ability to control for the influence of extraneous variables is an advantage.
 Disadvantage is the experiment takes place in a controlled, artificial
environment.
 Internet Experiment: an experimental study that is conducted over the Internet
 Advantages
 Ease of access to demographically and culturally diverse participant
populations.
 Ability to bring the experiment to the participants rather than the
participants to the experiment
 High statistical power attained through accessing large samples.
 Cost saving of laboratory space,
 Disadvantages: multiple submissions, lack of experimental control, self-selection,
and dropouts from study.
Independent Variable
Manipulation
 In experiments, the researcher manipulates an
independent variable that is assumed to chase a change in
the dependent variable. Thus, researchers must identify
the independent variable and decide how to manipulate it
to change the research question.
 Three ways of manipulation of independent variable
 Presence or absence technique: manipulating the
independent variable by presenting one group the
treatment condition and withholding it from the other
group. This is often what we do when we have a
control group.
 Amount technique: manipulating the independent
variable by giving the various comparison groups
different amounts of the independent variable.
 Type technique: manipulating the independent
variable by varying the type of condition presented to
the different comparison groups.
Control of Confounding
Some extraneous variables can threaten internal
Variables
(causal) validity. Researchers should work to control
these variables.
 Experimental control: eliminating and differential influence
of extraneous variables.
 Random Assignment: a procedure that makes assignments
to conditions on the basis of chance and in this way maximizes
the probability that comparison group will be equated on all
extraneous variables.
 Matching: equating comparison groups on one or more
variables that are correlated with the dependent variable.
 Holding the Extraneous Variable Constant
 Building the Extraneous Variable Into the Research
Design
 Analysis of Covariance: a control method that can be used
to statistically equate groups that differ on pretest or some
other variable; also called ANCOVA.
 Counterbalancing: administering all experimental conditions
to all participants but in different orders.
Experimental Research
Designs:
Research designs can be weak or strong depending upon the
extent to which they control for the influence of confounding
variables. Research Design is the outline, plan, or strategy
that is used to answer a research question.
 Weak Experimental Research Designs
 One-Group Posttest-Only Design
 One-Group Pretest-Posttest Design
 Posttest-Only Design With Nonequivalent Groups
 Strong Experimental Research Designs
 Pretest–Posttest Control-Group Design
 Posttest-Only Control-Group Design
 Factorial Designs
 Repeated-Measures Designs
 Factorial Designs Based on a Mixed Model
Quasi-Experimental Research
Designs
 Quasi-Experimental Research Designs do not provide for
full control of potential confounding variables because
random assignment cannot be implemented primarily
because it does not randomly assign participants to
comparison groups.
 Nonequivalent Comparison-Group Design consists of
an experimental group and a nonequivalent untreated
comparison group, both of which are administered pretest
and posttest measures
 Interrupted Time-Series Design is that in which a
treatment condition is assessed by comparing the pattern
of pretest responses with the pattern of posttest
responses obtained from a single group of participants.
 Regression-Discontinuity Design is a design that
assesses the effect of a treatment condition by looking for
a discontinuity in regression lines between individuals who
score lower and higher than some predetermined cutoff
score.
Single-Case Experimental Designs
 Single-case experimental designs are
designs that use a single participant to
investigate the effect of an experimental
treatment condition.
 A-B-A and A-B-A-B Designs
 A-B-A design
 A-B-A-B design
 Multiple-Baseline Design
 Changing-Criterion Design
Further Readings
 Hassan, T. (1985). Understanding research in education.
Lagos: Merrifield (Chapter 11)
 Johnson, R. B., & Christensen, L. (2014). Educational
research: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches
(Fifth Edition). SAGE. (Chapter 12) Available at
https://ismailsunny.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/educationa
l-research_-quantitat-r-robert-burke-johnson.pdf

 Gay, L. R., Mills, G. E., & Airasian, P. (2012). Educational

research: Competencies for analysis and applications (Tenth
Edition) Pearson (Chapter 4) Available at
https://www.pdfdrive.com/educational-research-competenci
es-for-analysis-and-application-10th-ed-e187523673.html

 Best, J. W., Kahn, J. V., & Jha, A. K. (2016). Research in

Education (10th Edition) Pearson Education (Chapter 2)