EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH

A. Experimental Research in Language Learning

Experimental research is one of the most powerful research methodologies
that researchers can use. It is unique in two very important respects: It is the only type
of research that directly attempts to influence a particular variable, and when properly
applied, it is the best type for testing hypotheses about cause-and-effect relationships.
In an experimental study, researchers look at the effect(s) of at least one independent
variable on one or more dependent variables. The independent variable in
experimental research is also frequently referred to as the experimental, or treatment,
variable. The dependent variable, also known as the criterion, or outcome, variable,
refers to the results or outcomes of the study.
Experimental research manipulates and controls the cause variable and
proceeds to observe the change in the effect variable. Experimental research measures
the effect of one manipulated and controlled (independent) variable to other
(dependent) variable, like the effect of different methods of teaching to the students,
achievement, the effect of an English training method to participants English skills.
Experimental research is a powerful research method to establish cause-and effect
relationship ( Borg, W.R.,Gall, M.D.1989:639) involving two or more variables, the
variable that becomes the cause (independent) and the variable that becomes the
effect. The cause variable is the condition or event that exists or occurs prior to the
effect. The effect variable is a condition or event subsequent to the causal condition.
The cause variable produces a change in the effect variable (Charles, C.M. 1995:247).
In experimental research, the researcher deliberately controls and manipulates the
conditions or makes a change in the value of the independent variable and observes
the effect of that change in the dependent variable ( Cohen,L., Manion, L. 1994:164).
B. Types of Experimental Research
Some of the types of the experimental research include true experimental,
quasi experimental, pre-experimental, or factorial designs.

a. True experimental research

In a true experimental research, the researcher has access to random
selection of the samples and random assignment of the samples into
experimental and control groups to ensure the equivalence of groups and to
control for many interfering variables that might otherwise contaminate the
results of the investigation ( Charles, C.M 1995:247). This true experimental
research design can be used with pretest-posttest control-group design or
posttest-only control-group design (Borg, W.R., Gall, M.D. 1989:674). The
example procedure for pretest-posttest control group design involves the
following steps.
Devine the accessible population of the research ( e.g. all the registered
1st year students of state senior high school one in Malang)
Randomly select a number of the members of the population as the
sample (e.g. 100 students in Malang)
Randomly select one half of the members of the sample and assign them
into group a and assign the rest into group B (e.g. 50 students of group A and 50
students of group B)
Give a pretest to assess the level of knowledge or skills of group A and
group B. Analyze the results of the pretest to ensure that the average scores of
the two groups are not significantly different.
Randomly assign one of the groups into the experimental group and the
other one into the control group.
Give the experimental treatment to the experimental group and the
control treatment to the control group.
Give a posttest to assess the results of the treatment of both groups.
Compute the difference between the average score of the experimental
group and the control group.
b. Quasi-Experimental Research
In educational settings, very often it is not possible to select the sample
randomly out of all the population students. When the researcher can only assign
randomly different treatments to two different classes, the researcher uses quasiexperimental research design (Charles, C.M. 1995:247). The procedure in quasiexperimental research involves fewer steps than the true experimental research
as follows.

Define the accessible population of the research (e.g. all the registered 1 st
year students of state senior high school one in Malang)
Select two classes out of all the existing classes which are of equivalent
level.
Randomly select one of the classes into experimental group and the
control treatment to the control group.
Give the experimental treatment to the experimental group and the
control treatment to the control group.
Assess the result of the treatments of both groups.
Compute the difference between the average score of the experimental
group and the control group.
c. Pre-Experimental Research
Sometimes an experimental research is conducted without a control
group. In this research given a pre-test before the experimental treatment. After
the treatment finished, the post test is administered to see the achievement. The
effectiveness of the instructional treatment is measured by comparing the
average score of the pretest and the post test. When it turns out that the post test
average score is significantly higher than the average score of the pretest, then it
is concluded that the instructional treatment is effective. Another name for this
pre-Experimental design is one-group pretest-posttest design (Borg, W.R, Gall,
M.D. 1989:670) This pre-Experimental research can be done to investigate, for
example, the effectiveness of the one-semester intensive English course for
freshmen of English department, State University Malang.
The weakness of pre-Experimental research is the lack of a comparative
group to control for interfering variables that might contaminate the result of the
research.
d.

Factorial Design
Factorial design are used in the educational experiments when the
researchers manipulating an experimental variable measure the effect of the
independent experimental variable across different subgroups in the samples,
like the effect on different age groups of the samples, different intelligence
groups of the samples, different sex, etc. Most real-world outcomes are the
result of a number of factors acting in combination, so factorial design is

appropriate to conduct an experiment involving analysis of the intraction of a

number of the variables relationships ( Best, J.W., Khan, J.V 2003:187).
The procedure in factorial design research involves several steps as
follows.
Students are randomly selected as a sample from the population.
Members of the sample are selected randomly and assigned into two groups.
One of groups is randomly assigned into an experimental group and
other group into a control group. The experimental group gets an experimental
treatment, while the control group get the control treatment.
The achievement of the students in the two groups is measured. The
average scores of the two groups are compared statistically. If it turns out that
the experimental group achieve significantly higher than the control group, then
the average scores of the male experimental group, female experimental group,
high intelligence experimental group, moderate intelligence experimental groups
are compared with the groups of the same characteristics in the control group.

REFERENCE
Fraenkel and wallen.2009. How to Design and Evaluate Research in Education. New
York:McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Latief, Mohammad Adnan.2012.Research Methods on Language an Introduction.
Malang: UM Press.