Experimental Research Design

Experimental research designs are used to determine if there is a causal relation between an independent variable and a dependent variable. The designs can be classified as either group designs or single-case designs. Group designs use a large sample of participants who are usually observed once. Single-case designs focus on one participant who is observed many times.

The simplest group design is the posttest-only control group design. In this design, participants are randomly assigned to either a treatment group or a control group. If the sample of participants is sufficiently large, random assignment creates two groups that at the time of assignment are probabilistically similar on the average. The treatment group receives an intervention. Then, the dependent variable is simultaneously observed for both groups. The difference ...

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