Understanding The Experimental Research Design(Part I)
- 1. By Dr. Shaloo Saini Assistant Professor, MKCE (CT Group of Institutions, Jalandhar, Punjab)
- 2. Experimental Research is conducted to study the cause and effect relationship between the variables under study. Experimental Research studies are also called Hypothesis testing studies where the researcher studies the causal relationships between the variables(Kothari and Garg,2019) Causal researches require procedures that reduces biasness, increases reliability and provide inferences about casual relationships. Usually experiments meet these requirements therefore in such studies experimental research designs are adopted(Kothari and Garg,2019)
- 3. 1. Identification and Definition of Problem. 2. Formulation of Hypothesis. 3. Developing an Experimental Design. The Design should discuss the following: Select the sample subject. Group or pair subjects. Identify and control non experimental factors. Construct and validate an instrument to measure. Determine Place, Time and Duration of Experiment 4. Conduct the Experiment 5. Analyse the Data and Test the Hypothesis 6.Report the Findings.
- 4. Select the Sample Subject. Group or Pair Subjects. Identify and Control Non Experimental factors. Construct and Validate an instrument to Measure. Determine Place, Time and Duration of Experiment.
- 5. The extraneous variables also called confounding variables needs to be controlled in the experimental designs because if left unchecked they have the power of altering the results. There are three ways to control the Extraneous Variables: 1. Randomization 2. Matching 3. Statistical Control
- 6. This means random assignment of test units to experiment and control group along with random allocation of treatment to the two groups. Randomization ensures that every member has equal chance of being assigned to the group. If the researcher wants to test the effectiveness of ICT integration in classroom teaching, then the students to be allotted for experimental group and control group should be selected randomly. By doing this Extraneous Variables like IQ, gender, age etc will be randomly distributed.
- 7. In this method the prior identification of the Extraneous Variables which could alter the results is done. The researcher distributes the test units to control group and experimental group equally taking care of these prior identified variables like age, gender, IQ level etc. Since the effect of Extraneous variable is equally distributed the researcher can confidently claim that the Independent Variable is alone responsible for the changes in the Dependent Variable.
- 8. This is a very specific method of controlling the effect of Extraneous Variable. It involves measuring the effect of Extraneous Variable and making adjustment for their effect by using statistical techniques For example ANOVA(Analysis of Variance) and ANCOVA (Analysis of Co- Variance) can be used.
- 9. Prof. R.A. Fisher have given three Principles of Experimental Design, which control the effect of Extraneous Variables. These are: 1. Principle of Replication 2. Principle of Randomization 3. Principle of Local Control
- 10. This principle suggests that the experiment should be conducted more than once which means that it should be repeated again and again. There are two ways for Replication. The first one is to repeat the experiment more than once. The second way is to have more than one treatment groups and control groups and significant differences in the effectiveness of the experiment can be compared.
- 11. The units and treatments are randomly assigned so that the variations caused by Extraneous Variable can be controlled and can be clubbed under a general factor ‘Chance’
- 12. Through this Principle the Researcher can measure and eliminate the effect of Extraneous Variable. The known source of Variability i.e. the extraneous factor is made to vary deliberately over a wide range in a manner that its effect can be measured. For Example to measure the effectiveness of Teaching Method The IQ level of the students is the Extraneous Variable. The students having similar level of IQ level can be clubbed in one group. The difference in the performance of groups due to IQ variation can be extracted and then eliminated from the results of the study.
- 13. Experimental Research is conducted to study the cause and effect relationship between the variables under study. The Experimental Research Design involves explanation about the sample subjects, Group or Pair subjects, identification and controlling of non experimental factors, construction and validation of measurement instrument, and determination of place time and duration of experiment. The extraneous variables also called confounding variables needs to be controlled in the experimental designs because if left unchecked they have the power of altering the results. There are three ways to control the Extraneous Variables, which are Randomization, Matching and Statistical Control. R A Fisher suggested three principles for experimental research which are Principle of Replication, Principal of Randomization and Principal of Local Control.
- 14. Bajpai N. (2015). Research design formulations. In Business research methods (pp. 49). Nodia: Pearson Education. Cooper, D. R., Schindler, P. S., & Sharma, J. K. (2012). Measurement scales. In Business Research Methods (8th ed., pp. 341). New Delhi: Mc. Graw Hill Education (India). Gupta S.K. & Rangi P.(2017). Research Designs In Research Methodology (4th ed., pp3.5).Punjab: Kalyani Publishers(India). Kothari C. R. & Garg G.(2019). Research Designs. In Research Methodology Methods and Techniques( 4th ed., pp.29-38) New Delhi: New Age International Publishers(India).
- 15. This Power Point Presentation has been made while referring to the research books written by eminent, renowned and expert authors as mentioned in the references section. The purpose of this Presentation is to help the research students in developing an insight about the Experimental Research Design(Part –I). I hope the students will find this presentation useful for them. All the Best Dr. Shaloo Saini