Quantitative Research

Designs

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Questions for Thought

What is the difference between experimental,

quasi-experimental, and nonexperimental?

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Research Design

• Research Design
– It is the researcher’s overall plan for
• Answering the research question
• Testing the research hypotheses

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Research Design

• Research Design

– Will involve decisions regarding

• Will there be an intervention

• What types of comparison will be made
• What procedures will be used to control extraneous variables
– Extraneous are variables that may affect the independent
or dependent variables, and need to be controlled
• When and how many times will data be collected from study
participants
• In what setting will the study occur
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Types of Quantitative Research
Designs

1. Experimental
2. Quasi-experimental
3. Non-experimental

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Experimental Research Designs

• Experimental Designs

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Experimental Research Designs

• Greatest amount of control over the independent

variable

• Researcher is an active agent rather than a

passive observer

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Experimental Research Designs

• Characteristics of • Need to have these

Experiments three factors to be
– Manipulation considered an
– Control experimental design
– Randomization

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Characteristics of Experiments

– Manipulation

• The researcher does something to study participants

• Independent variable is manipulated by administering an

experimental treatment or intervention to some participants
and withholding it from others or administering another
treatment (control group)

• The researcher controls and varies the independent variable

and observes its effect on dependent variable

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Characteristics of Experiments

– Control

• The researcher introduces controls over the experimental

situation through use of control groups

• Control group is the participants in an experiment that do not

receive the experimental treatment and whose performance
provides a baseline against which the effects of the treatment
can be measured

• The researcher compares the control group’s performance

on a dependent variable to the experimental group

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Characteristics of Experiments

– Randomization (random assignment)

• The researcher assigns study participants to control or

experimental groups randomly

• Each participant has an equal chance of being included in

any group

• Each group is considered to be comparable therefore any

changes could be attributed to the independent variable
(treatment)

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Experimental Designs

• Types:

– 1. After-only (post-test-only) design

– 2. Before-after (pretest-posttest) design
– 3. Factorial Design
– 4. Repeated-Measures Design
– 5. Clinical Trials

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Experimental Designs

1. After-only (post-test-only) design

– Two groups
– Collection of data after intervention

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Experimental Designs

2. Before-after (pretest-posttest) design

– Collects baseline (pretest data) data before

intervention

– Then collects data after the intervention (post-test

data)

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Experimental Designs

3. Factorial Design

– Manipulation of two or more variables simultaneously

– Allows evaluation of main effects (effects resulting from

the intervention) and interaction effects (effects
resulting from combining the treatment methods)

– Participants are assigned at random to a combination

of treatments
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Experimental Designs

4. Repeated Measures Design (crossover design)

– Within-subjects designs
• A research design in which a single group of subjects is
compared under different conditions or at different points in
time (i.e. before and after surgery)

– The same study participants are used to evaluate more than one
treatment/intervention

– Participants are randomly assigned

– Participants serve as their own control group

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Experimental Designs

5. Clinical Trials

– Involves the testing of a clinical treatment

– Random assignment of participants to experimental or control

groups

– Large sample, can be across the world to increase

generalizability

– Usually use a before-after or after-only design

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Advantages/Disadvantages of
Experimental Design

• Advantages • Disadvantages
– Most powerful for testing – Some variables can not be
cause and effect manipulated
hypotheses – Not feasible
– Not ethical
– Potential of Hawthorne
effect
• Being in a study causes
people to change their
behaviour

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Advantages/Disadvantages of
Experiments

• To reduce the potential for the Hawthorne effect

– Researchers use double-blind experiments
• Neither researcher nor participant know who is getting which
treatment

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Quasi-Experimental Research
Designs

• Quasi-Experimental Designs

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Quasi-experimental Research
Designs

• Involves manipulation of an independent variable

• Lacks either randomization or control-group or both ***

• Weaker than experimental designs

• Uses the term comparison group instead of the term

control group

• Also known as pre-experimental design

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Quasi-experimental Research
Designs

• Types:

– 1. Nonequivalent Control-Group Design

– 2. Time-Series Design

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Quasi-experimental Research
Designs

1. Nonequivalent Control-Group Before-After

Design

– Most frequently used quasi-experimental design

– Involves a treatment and two or more groups of participants

– Collects data before and after intervention

– No randomization
• Therefore the groups can not be assumed to be equivalent

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Quasi-experimental Research
Designs

2. Time-Series Design

– Has neither a control group nor randomization

– Involves the collection of data over an extended period of time

and the introduction of the intervention during that period

– Therefore data is collected before the intervention (multiple

collection points) and again after implementation (multiple
collection points)

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Advantages/Disadvantages of
Quasi-Experiments

• Advantages • Disadvantages
– Practical – Cause and effect can not
be determined as easily as
experimental designs
– Could be other reasons for
the change in dependent
variable (rival hypotheses)

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Nonexperimental Research Designs

• Nonexperimental Designs

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Nonexperimental Research Designs

• Used where the independent variable can not be

manipulated

• Used when it is unethical to manipulate the

independent variable

• Useful in descriptive studies

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Nonexperimental Research Designs

• Types:

– 1. Ex post facto (correlational)

– 2. Descriptive

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Nonexperimental Research Designs

1. Ex post facto (correlational)

– Research is conducted after the independent variable

has been manipulated or intervention applied

– Studys relationships among variables

– No control of independent variable

– Can be retrospective or prospective studies

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Nonexperimental Research Designs

– Retrospective
• Looks at dependent variable in the present and attempts to
link this effect to cause in the past
• Looks at present outcomes and tries to determine what
factors caused it
– Lung cancer currently, linked to smoking in the past

– Prospective
• Looks at the presumed cause and then goes forward in time
to observe presumed effects
• Considered stronger than retrospective studies
– Smoking currently may cause lung cancer in the future

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Nonexperimental Research Designs

2. Descriptive Design

– Purpose is to observe, describe and document aspects

of a situation

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Advantages/Disadvantages of
Nonexperimental Research Designs

• Advantages • Disadvantages
– Good for problems not able – Can’t determine causal
to be studied through relationships conclusively
experimentation

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Research Design and Time

• When to use multiple points of data collection

– Time-related processes
• Phenomena evolves over time
• i.e. healing, growth

– Time-sequenced phenomena
• Sequencing of phenomena

– Comparative purposes
• Compare phenomena over time

– Enhancement of research control

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Research Design and Time

– Cross-sectional Studies
• Collection of data at one point in time
• Difficult to infer changes and trends over time

– Longitudinal Studies
• Collect data over an extended period of time
• Can show changes over time

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Research Design and Time

– Longitudinal Studies

• Trend studies
– Different samples from a population are studied over time, always
from same population

• Panel studies
– Same participants supply the data at two or more points in time

• Follow up studies
– Determine the outcomes of people with a specific condition or who
have received a specific treatment

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Techniques of Research Control

• A major purpose of research design is to

maximize the researcher’s control
over the research situation

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Techniques of Research Control

• Research Control

– Concerned with eliminating possible extraneous

influences on the dependent variable
• A variable that confounds (confuses) the relationship between
the independent and dependent variables

– Concerned with understanding the true relationship

between independent and dependent variables

– Research control attempts to exclude contaminating

factors, to control the extraneous influences 37
Techniques of Research Control

• Controlling External Factors

– Want to achieve constancy of conditions

• Researcher is confident that situational contaminants or conditions are not
affecting the data

– Want to control the environment

• As environment influences people’s emotions and behaviour

– Want to control the time

• Maintain constancy of time, control time of day, time of year

– Research protocols 38
• Specific procedures are outlined to maintain consistency
Techniques of Research Control

– Controlling Intrinsic Factors

• Intrinsic factors are participant's characteristics
– Age, gender, habits

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Techniques of Research Control

– Methods of Controlling Intrinsic Factors

• Randomization
– Equalized groups in relation to extraneous variables
– The best, most effective method

• Homogeneity
– Only participants who are the same with respect to
extraneous variables are included in the study

• Matching
– Using information about participants’ characterisitcs to
form comparison groups

• Statistical Control
– Statistical analysis 40
Internal and External Validity

• Internal Validity

– The extent to which it is possible to make an inference that

the independent variable is truly influencing the dependent
variable

– Quasi-experimental, preexperimental and correlational studies

are especially susceptible to threats to internal validity

– Experimental designs usually reduce threats to internal validity

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Internal and External Validity

• Threats to Internal Validity

– History threat
– Selection threat
– Maturation threat
– Mortality threat

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Internal and External Validity

• Threats to Internal Validity

– History threat

• Refers to events external to the intervention but occur at the

same time which can affect the dependent variable

• Threat in quasi-experimental and non-experimental designs

• Not usually threat in experimental studies as all groups will

be affected by history

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Internal and External Validity

• Threats to Internal Validity

– Selection threat (self-selection)

• Results from pre-existing differences between groups which

may affect the dependent variable

• Groups may not be equivalent

• Most problematic threat to studies not using experimental

design

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Internal and External Validity

• Threats to Internal Validity

– Maturation threat

• Occurs when changes to the dependent variable (outcome)

results from the passage of time

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Internal and External Validity

• Threats to Internal Validity

– Mortality threat

• Refers to the loss of participants (attrition) from the different

groups in the study

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Internal and External Validity

• External Validity

– Refers to the generalizability of the research

findings to other settings or samples

– Does intervention work in another setting or with

different people

– A good sampling design increases chance of

generalizability

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Reference

Loiselle, C. G., Profetto-McGrath, J., Polit, D. F., &

Beck, C. T. (2011). Canadian essentials of nursing
research (3rd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott,
Williams & Wilkins.

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