Quasi-Experimental Research

Quasi-experiments are research experiments that involve interventions or treatments, have criterion or outcome measures, and units (e.g., participants, classrooms, schools). However, unlike true experiments, quasi-experiments do not make use of random selection or assignment to create the comparisons that will be used to infer that treatment-caused changes have occurred. Rather the nonequivalent groups that are compared in quasi-experiments are likely to differ in many ways other than the particular treatment whose effect is being examined. To separate the effects of the treatment from those due to the noncomparability in the groups is the challenge the researcher faces. Quasi-experiments are particularly important to the field of curriculum studies as the impact of a particular curriculum on student outcomes often has to be studied in complex field ...