Research Designs Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Research Designs - Assignment Example This helps us to verify that the effects seen are actually due to the said Independent variable and not other factors. A true experimental design has all these components; and thus offers the most reliable data and analysis (Kerlinger, 1986). An example of a true experimental study would be when a new medicine is being tested, and different dosages are given to different groups to test it’s efficacy. A control group in not given the medicine, but a placebo instead. The dosage levels are varied as per to opinion of the professional researcher; and the sample chosen is such that it represents the larger population from which it comes. On the other hand, a cross-sectional design and a quasi-experimental design would not allow for manipulation of the independent variable or for the presence of a control group given the nature of the Independent variables under study (Frankfort-Nachmias & Nachmias, 2008). An example of a cross-sectional study would be a study that tried to verify the type of music preferred across different age groups. Although the experimenter can choose the range of each group; there is no ‘control group’ for this study. On the other hand, a quasi-expeimental design would be one where the efficacy of different treatment options for an illness are compared (Frankfort-Nachmias & Nachmias, 2008). The researcher cannot assign treatment options and has to collect data from participants who choose the said options. There can be a control group only if there are people who choose to abstain from treatment. The least strong type of study is one that uses a pre-experimental design (Frankfort-Nachmias & Nachmias, 2008), which only allows for comparison or observation. A typical pre-experimental design is when a group is tested for knowledge before and after a training procedure and then the two scores are compared for difference. The strength of the research design