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CHAPTER-4
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EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH DESIGNS

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What is an Experiment?
An experiment is generally used to

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infer a causality. In an experiment, a researcher actively manipulates one or more causal variables and measures their effects on the dependent variable of interest.

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Necessary Conditions for Making Causal Inferences

Concomitant variation Time order of occurrence of variables Absence of other possible causal factors

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Concepts Used in Experiments

Independent variables: Independent variables

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are also known as explanatory variables or treatments. The levels of these variables are manipulated (changed) by researchers to measure their effect on the dependent variable. Test units: Test units are those entities on which treatments are applied. Dependent variables: These variables measures the effect of treatments (independent variable) on the test units.

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Concepts Used In Experiments

Experiment: An experiment is executed when the

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researcher manipulates one or more independent variables and measures their effect on the dependent variables while controlling the effect of the extraneous variables. Extraneous variables: These are the variables other than the independent variables which influence the response of test units to treatments.

Examples: Store size, government policies, temperature, food intake, geographical location, etc.

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Validity in Experimentation
Internal validity: Internal validity tries to examine

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whether the observed effect on a dependent variable is actually caused by the treatments (independent variables) in question. External validity: External validity refers to the generalization of the results of an experiment. The concern is whether the result of an experiment can be generalized beyond the experimental situations.

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Factors Affecting Internal Validity of the Experiment

History
Maturation Testing

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Instrumentation
Statistical regression Selection bias

Test unit mortality

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Factors Affecting External Validity

The environment at the time of test may be

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different from the environment of the real world where these results are to be generalized. Population used for experimentation of the test may not be similar to the population where the results of the experiments are to be applied. Results obtained in a 56 week test may not hold in an application of 12 months. Treatment at the time of the test may be different from the treatment of the real world.

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Methods to Control Extraneous Variables

Randomization

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Matching Use of experimental designs Statistical control

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Environments of Conducting Experiments

Laboratory

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Environment - In a laboratory experiment, the researcher conducts the experiment in an artificial environment constructed exclusively for the experiment.

Field Environment - The field experiment is

conducted in actual market conditions. There is no attempt to change the real-life nature of the environment.

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A Classification of Experimental Designs

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Pre-experimental design
Pre-experimental designs do not make use of any randomization procedures to control the extraneous variables. Therefore, the internal validity of such designs is questionable.
One-shot case study:

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One-group pre-testpost-test design:

O1 X O2
Static group comparison:

Group 1 - X O1 Group 2 O2

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Quasi-experimental designs
In quasi-experimental design, the researcher can control when measurements are taken and on whom they are taken. However, this design lacks complete control of scheduling of treatment and also lacks the ability to randomize test units exposure to treatments.
Time series design:

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O 1 O2 O3 O4 X O 5 O6 O7 O8
Contd..

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Quasi-experimental designs

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Quasi-experimental designs
Multiple time series design:

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Experimental Group: O1 O2 O3 O4 X O5 O6 O7 O8

Control Group:

O1 O2 O3 O4

O5 O6 O7 O8

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True experimental designs

In true experimental designs, researchers can randomly assign test units and treatments to an experimental group. Here, the researcher is able to eliminate the effect of extraneous variables from both the experimental and control group.
Pre-testpost-test control group:

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Experimental Group: R O1 X O2 Control Group: R O3 O4

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True experimental designs

Post-test only control group design:

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Experimental Group: R Control Group: R

Solomon four-group design:

O1 O2

Experimental Group 1 : Control Group 1: Experimental Group 2: Control Group 2:

R R R R

O1 O3

O2 O4 X O5 O6

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Statistical designs
Statistical designs allow for statistical control and analysis of external variables.

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Completely randomized design Randomized block design Latin square design Factorial design

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RESEARCH

END OF CHAPTER

CONCEPTS AND