CCT208H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter Wilkins, 3: Random Assignment, Internal Validity
5 Dec 2016
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Since there is a comparing element with explanatory research we can use the experimental design. In which participants are randomly assigned to the intervention and control conditions. Former group receives the treatment being studied and the latter does not. Due to random assignment, individuals are assumed to be relevant in other areas than the experimental condition. Have strong internal validity but lack external validity as experiment is artificial in nature. Research comparing groups that are not randomly assigned into a particular condition is referred to as quasi-experimental. The different variable occurs naturally with the participants and are not assigned by the researcher. It may compare groups at one particular time, using a cross- sectional design. Conducted at one point in time, studies of this nature are vulnerable to unique contextual influences present during that historical moment. Selection refers to some pre-existing difference across sampled groups, irrespective of predicted differences.
