CHAPTER 8;Clarifying Quantitative Research Designs
FIG 8.11 Quasi-experimental post test-only design with a comparison group.
Quasi-Experimental and Experimental Designs
Answer the following questions:
State one of the basic designs mentioned in Chapter 8 (descriptive, correlational, predictive correlational, experimental, or quasi-experimental) and describe a possible study that could be done using that design.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of that design? Be sure to cite the source of your information.
When critically appraising the design of a quasi-experimental or experimental study, you need to address the following questions:
Is the study design quasi-experimental or experimental? Review the algorithm in Fig. 8.1 to determine the type of study design.
Identify the specific type of quasi-experimental or experimental design used in the study. Review the algorithm in Fig. 8.9 for the types of quasi-experimental study designs and the algorithm in Fig. 8.12 for the types of experimental designs.
FIG 8.12 Algorithm for determining the type of experimental design.
What were the strengths and threats to validity (construct validity, internal validity, external validity, and statistical conclusion validity) in the study (see Table 8.1)? Review the methods section and limitations identified in the discussion section of the study report for ideas.
Which elements were controlled and which elements could have been controlled to improve the study design? Review the sampling criteria, sample size, assignment of participants to groups, and study setting.
Was the study intervention described in detail? Was a protocol developed to ensure consistent or reliable implementation of the intervention with each participant throughout the study?
Did the study report indicate who implemented the intervention?
If more than one person implemented the intervention, how were they trained to ensure consistency in the delivery of the treatment? Was intervention fidelity achieved in the study (Bova et al., 2017; Eymard & Altmiller, 2016; Murphy & Gutman, 2012)?
Were the study dependent variables measured with reliable and valid measurement methods (Waltz et al., 2017)?
