GROUP 3

Alternatives to
Experimentation:
Non-experimental
Designs
ALL APPROACHES TO RESEARCH CAN BE DESCRIBED ALONG
TWO MAJOR
DIMENSIONS ACCORDING TO WILLEMS,1969:

1. The degree of manipulation of antecedent

conditions

2. The degree of imposition of units

THE DEGREE OF MANIPULATION OF ANTECEDENT CONDITION

Theoretically varies from low to high, from letting things

happen as they will to setting up carefully controlled conditions.
 THE DEGREE OF IMPOSITION OF UNITS
Refers to the extent to which the researcher
constrains, or limits, the responses a subject may
contribute to the data.
Antecedent conditions and imposed units changeindependently, and can represent the
various research approaches visually.
FIVE COMMON NONEXPERIMENTAL APPROACHES USED BY
PSYCHOLOGISTS:
PHENOMENOLGY
Is the description of an individual’s immediate
experience. Rather than looking at behaviors and events that
are external to us, we begin with personal experience as a
source of data.
• William James, arguably the world’s most famous early
psychologist, also used the phenomenological approach. In his 1200-
page work Principles of Psychology (republished in 1950; originally
published 1890).
• The phenomenological approach precludes experimental
manipulation
• Phenomenology cannot be used to understand the causes of
behavior.
• Phenomenology may lead us into areas of discovery that might
otherwise go unnoticed.
 CASE STUDY
- A DESCRIPTIVE RECORD OF A SINGLE INDIVIDUAL’S EXPERIENCE,
OR BEHAVIOR, OR BOTH, KEPT BY THE OBSERVER.
- SOURCE OF INFERENCES, HYPOTHESIS, AND THEORIES
- SOURCE OF DEVELOPING THERAPEUTIC TECHNIQUES
- PERFECT FOR FORUM FOR INVESTIGATING UNIQUE CASES OR RARE
PROBLEMS
- PROVIDES INFORMATION ABOUT THE IMPACT OF SIGNIFICANT
EVENTS IN PERSON’S LIFE
- PROVIDES EVIDENCE THAT CAST DOUBT ON THEORIES OR GENERALLY
ACCEPTED PRACTICES
- SOMETIMES A DRAMATIC WAY TO ILLUSTRATE ABSTRACT CONCEPTS
- USED ON CLINICAL WORK TO EVALUATE AN INDIVIDUAL’S OVERALL
LEVEL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONING
- DEVIANT CASE ANALYSIS IS AN EXTENSION ON THE EVALUATIVE
CASE STUDY
- SEVERE PROBLEM IS THAT CASE STUDIES FREQUENTLY RELIES ON
RETROSPECTIVE DATA
 FIELD STUDIES
- nonexperimental approach used in field or real-life
settings
- combines various kinds of data to capitalize the richness
and range of behavior found in found outside the laboratory
NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION

- TECHNIQUE OF OBSERVING
BEHAVIORS AS THEY OCCUR
SPONTANEOUSLY IN NATURAL
SETTINGS
 Archival study
•DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH METHOD IN WHICH
ALREADY EXISTING RECORDS ARE REEXAMINED FOR
A NEW PURPOSE.
Qualitative research
•relies on words
•focuses on self-reports, personal narratives,
expression of ideas, memories, feelings, and thoughts.
• used to study phenomena
 Paradigm
•attitudes, beliefs, values, methods and
procedures that are generally accepted within a
particular discipline.
 Empirical
phenomenology
•contemporary phenomenology that relies on the researcher's
own experiences, experimental data provided by study
participants, or other available sources such as literature or
popular media; a qualitative approach
 External validity
•How well the findings of an
experiment generalize or apply
to people and settings that were
not tested directly
 Internal validity
•The certainty that the changes in behaviour
observed across treatment conditions were
actually caused by differences in treatment.
The End