CASE: SSSs Experiment :Choosing An Appropriate Research Design

Prepared by Sachin Jain Sahil Chopra Sajal Arora Ashwini Kumar Jat

What Is An Experiment ?

Generally Used To Infer A Causality. Manipulates One Or More Causal Variables. Measures The Effect Of Causal Variables On The Dependent Variables Of Interest. Purpose Is To Investigate Cause And Effect Relationship.

Necessary Conditions For Making Causal Inferences

Concomitant variation : Extent to which a cause x and effect y occur together or vary together. Time order of occurrence of variables : causal variable must occur prior to or simultaneously with the effect variable Absence of other possible causal factors :

Steps in Experimental Research

State the research problem Determine if experimental methods apply Specify the independent variable(s) Specify the dependent variable(s) Determine measures to be used Identify intervening (extraneous) variables Design the experiment Conduct the study as planned Analyze the collected data Prepare a research report

Validity In Experimentation
Internal validity :

This is the basic minimum without which any study is not interpretable The Validity Of Findings With The Research Study; the technical soundness of a study, particularly concerned with the control of extraneous influences that might effect the outcome To gain internal validity, the researcher attempts to control everything and eliminate possible extraneous influences

External validity : the degree to which the findings can be inferred to the population of interest or to other populations or settings; Generalizability of results . . . to what populations, settings, or treatment variables can the results be generalized ?

Threats to internal validity

History events occurring during the experiment that are not part of the treatment Maturation biological or psychological processes within participants that may change due to the passing of time, e.g., aging, fatigue, hunger Testing the effects of one test upon subsequent administrations of the same test Instrumentation changes in testing instruments, raters, or interviewers including lack of agreement within and between observers

Cont.

Statistical regression the fact that groups selected on the basis of extreme scores are not as extreme on subsequent testing Selection bias identification of comparison groups in other than a random manner Experimental mortality loss of participants from comparison groups due to nonrandom reasons Interaction among factors factors can operate together to influence experimental results

Threats to external validity

The environment at the time of test may be different from the environment of the real world. Population used for experimentation of the test may not be similar to the population where the results are to be applied. Time gap- Results obtained in a 5-6 week test may not hold in an application of 12 months.

CLASSIFICATION OF EXPERIMENT DESIGNS

1.Pre- Experimental Designs: It cant make use of any randomization procedure to control the extraneous variables. TYPES: a. One shot case study b. One group per test & post test design c. Static group

2. Quasi Experimental Designs: It lacks complete control of scheduling of treatment and the ability to randomise test units exposure to treatments. TYPES: a. Time series b. Multiple Time series

3. True- Experimental Designs: Researcher is able to eliminate the effect of extraneous variables from both experimental and control group. Randomly assign of groups would be possible. TYPES: a. Pre-test post test control group. b. Post-test only control group. c. Solomon Four group.

4. Statistical Designs: It allows for statistical control abd analysis of external

variables.
a.

b.

ADVANTAGES: Effect of more than 1 independent variable can be examined. Effect of specific extraneous variables can be controlled.

TYPES of Statistical Designs:

Completely Randomised Randomised Blocks Latin Square Factorial

Now the case facts

SSS(soft space solution) software co. that develops customize software solutions. Expertise of its employees in developing quality products. Effects of the financial crises1) Productivity of the remaining staff increased by 30% to 40%. 2) Attrition rate of employees come down from 25% to 4%.

After normalcy company bagged some new projects and started their recruitment process again. Top management ask HR department to conduct the research and they schedule a meeting. Jaideep Sharma(SE) come up with a new idea of conducting a questionnaire survey and experiment. Few others were skeptical about experiment as disadvantage like- Budget Constraint.

Shivaji enquired about the process and prerequisite of conducting an experiment. Jaideep said we need to identify and observe the factors that influence the variables. HR would measured and compared across groups after one month. Shivaji (HR) explained few experimental designs. By using one of these designs, results help to develop a wide strategy which helps co. in solving a problem.

References
http://www.ibscdc.org/Case_Studies/Operations %20and%20Project%20Management/Business %20Research%20Methods/BRM0015.htm