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III. Constructing Research Designs: Experimental, Quasi-Experimental, Ex Post Facto, and Time Series
III. Constructing Research Designs: Experimental, Quasi-Experimental, Ex Post Facto, and Time Series
a. Pre-experimental designs
- Not really considered model experiments, because they do not
account for extraneous variables, and their internal validity is
questionable.
- But, they are easy and useful ways to get preliminary
information.
- Three most common pre-experimental designs: one-shot case
study, one-group pretest posttest, and intact group comparison.
c. Quasi-experimental designs
- We can hardly or even cannot conduct a true experimental
design in social sciences, because:
+ It’s hard to find random students.
+ It’s hard to define the numerous variables involved in
a research. They might not even be mutually exclusive (Is Reading
separated from writing?)
+ It’s hard to control the factors. (We choose all
advanced students because we want to control their levels. But
there are advanced students who are good at grammar, and those
who are good at speaking.)
+ It’s hard to ask a group of students to sit our research
if they gain nothing from it.
=> Impossible to create a true experimental design.
- But, doesn’t mean we should give up.
=> Quasi-experimental design:
> control as many variables as possible
> limit the kinds of interpretations we can make
about cause-effect relationships
> hedge the power of generalization statements.
d. Time-series designs
- Great when there’s no control groups
- Several pre- and posttests
T1 T2 T3 X T4 T5 T6
- Time-sample :
f. Factorial designs
- Not a design type in itself
- Simply adding more variables to the other designs, like
moderator variables:
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