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Experimental Design Presentation
Experimental Design Presentation
DESIGN
Research Design Continuum
Research Design
Historical True-designs
Cross-Sectional
Meta-Analyses
Longitudinal
Statistical-
Correlational designs
Analytical Research
• Reviews
• A critical account of present understanding
• A meta-analysis is a quantitative method of review
• Historical Research
• Accessing both primary (e.g. witnesses) or
secondary (e.g. literature) sources to document past
events
• Philosophical Research
• Organising existing evidence into a comprehensive
theoretical model
Descriptive Research
• Case Study
• Accrualof detailed information from an
individual
• Survey
• Cross-sectional: Status of a various groups at a
given point in time
• Longitudinal: Status of a given group at various
points in time
• Correlational:Relationships between variables
Experimental Research
Experimental or Criterion or
Treatment Outcome
Variable Variable
Best research methodology to
establish cause-and-effect relationships among
variables
True Experimental Design
True Experimental
Design
True experimental research designs
are those where researchers have
complete control over the
extraneous variables & can predict
confidently that the observed effect
on the dependable variable is only
due to the manipulation of the
independent variable.
ESSENTIAL
CHARACTERISTICS…
A true experimental research design must
essentially consist of the following three
characteristics:
1. Manipulation
2. Control
3. Randomization
Manipulation:
• Manipulation refers to conscious control of
the independent variable by the researcher
through treatment or intervention(s) to
observe its effect on the dependent variable.
Control:
Post-test Crossove
only r
Pretest Randomize
post-test d block
only
Solomon Factorial
4 groups
Post-test-only Control Design:
Example
Post-test-Only Control Group Design
Pretest-post-test-only design
R O X O
50 teachers Pretest: Dance for Posttest:
Faculty Self- Peace Faculty Self-
100 Awareness Training- Awareness
randomly Questionnair Workshop Questionnaire
selected e
teachers O C O
R Pretest: No training Posttest:
50 teachers Faculty Self- Faculty Self-
Awareness Awareness
Questionnair Questionnaire
e
Solomon four-group design
• There are two experimental groups (experimental group 1 &
experimental group 2) & two control groups (control group 1
& control group 2).
• Initially, the investigator randomly assigns subjects to the
four groups.
• Out of the four groups, only experimental group 1 & control
group1 receives the pretest, followed by the treatment to the
experimental group 1 & experimental group 2.
• Finally, all the four groups receive post-test, where the
effects of the dependant variables of the study are observed
& comparison is made of the four groups to assess the
effect of independent variable (experimental treatment) on
the dependant variable.
• The solomon four-group design is believed to be most
Solomon four-group design
Exp. Group 1 pretest treatment Post-test
Random
assignment
R O X O
25 Pretest: Dance for Posttest:
teachers Faculty Self-Awareness Peace Faculty Self-Awareness
(Exp-1) Questionnaire TrainingWorkshop Questionnaire
R O C O
25 Pretest: No training Posttest:
teachers Faculty Self-Awareness Faculty Self-Awareness
(Con-1) Questionnaire Questionnaire
R X O
25 Dance for Posttest:
teachers Peace Faculty Self-Awareness
(Exp-2) TrainingWorkshop Questionnaire
100
randomly R C O
selected 25 No training Posttest:
teachers teachers
Faculty Self-Awareness
Factorial design
• In factorial design, researcher manipulates two or more
independent variables simultaneously to observe their effects
on the dependant variables. This design is useful when there
are more than two independent variables, called factors to be
tested.
• This design also facilitates the testing of several hypothesis at
a single time.
• Typical factorial design incorporates 2X2 or 2X3 factorial, but it
can be in any combination.
• The first number (α) refers to the independent variables or the
type of experimental treatments, & the second number (β)
refers to the level or frequency of the treatment.
Factorial design
A A, I A, II A, III
B B, I B, II B, III
C C, I C, II C, III
• For example, a researcher wants to examine the effects of
three different antihypertensive drugs on patients with
hypertension.
• In this example, to ensure the homogeneity among the subjects
under treatment, researcher randomly places the subjects in
homogeneous groups (blocks) like patients with primary
hypertension, diabetic patients with hypertension, & renal
Crossover design
• In this design, subjects are exposed to more than one
treatment, where subjects are randomly assigned to
different orders of treatment.
• It is also known as ‘repeat measures design’.
• This design is more efficient in establishing the highest
possible similarity among subjects exposed to different
conditions, where groups compared obviously have equal
distribution of characteristics.
• Through crossover design is considered as an extremely
powerful research design, sometimes it is not effective
because when subjects are exposed to two different
conditions, their responses of the second condition may be
influenced by their experience in the first condition.
Crossover design
• For example, when we are comparing the effectiveness of the
chlorhexidine mouth care protocol on group I & saline mouth
care protocol on the subjects of group II.
• Later, the treatment is swapped, where group I receives the
saline mouth care & group II receives chlorhexidine. In such
studies, subjects serve as their own control.
Quasi –
Experimental
Research Design
Quasi – Experimental Research Design
• Quasi-experimental research design involves the
manipulation of independent variable to observe to effect on
dependant variable, but it lacks at least one of the two
characteristics of the true experimental design;
randomization or a control group.
• In other words, quasi-experimental designs have an element
of manipulation but lack at least one of the other two
properties that characterize true experiments; randomization
or a control group.
• Quasi-experimental designs are generally used to establish
the causality (effect of independent variable on dependent
reasons no control group is available for an experimental
Time-series design
Advantages of quasi-experimental design
Research Validity
• Internal Validity – the validity of findings with the
research study; the technical soundness of a
study, particularly concerned with the control of
extraneous influences that might effect the
outcome
• External Validity – the degree to which the findings
can be inferred to the population of interest or to
other populations or settings; the generalizability of
the results
• Both are important in a study but they are
frequently at odds with one another in planning
and designing a study
• Internal validity is considered the basic minimum
for experimental research
Threats to Internal
Validity
• History – events occurring during the experiment that
are not part of the treatment
• Maturation – biological or psychological processes
within participants that may change due to the passing
of time, e.g., aging, fatigue, hunger
• Testing – the effects of one test upon subsequent
administrations of the same test
• Instrumentation – changes in testing instruments,
raters, or interviewers including lack of agreement
within and between observers
• Ecological Validity –
• refers to the extent to which the results of an
experiment can be generalized from the set of
environmental conditions in the experiment to other
environmental conditions
Threats to External Validity
• Interaction effects of testing – the fact that the
pretest may make the participants more aware of
or sensitive to the upcoming treatment
• Selection bias – when participants are selected in
a manner so they are not representative of any
particular population
• Reactive effects of experimental setting – the fact
that treatments in constrained laboratory settings
may not be effective in less constrained, realworld
settings
• Multiple-treatment interference – when
participants receive more than one treatment, the
effects of previoustreatments may influence
subsequent ones
Common Sources of Error
• Many possible sources of error can cause the
results of a research study to be incorrectly
interpreted. The following sources of error are
more specific threats to the validity of a study
than those described previously
• Selected examples:
• Hawthorne Effect
• Placebo Effect
• John Henry Effect
• Rating Effect
• Experimenter Bias Effect
Hawthorne Effect