Pre-experimental Research Designs

Presented by:

Khurram Piracha Ali Hussain Hafiz Zulfiqar

Presented to: Dr. Muhammad Iqbal (HOD Federal Urdu University, Lahore)

What are Pre-experimental Designs

Experimental design is the blueprint of the procedures that enable the researcher to test hypotheses by reaching valid conclusions about relationships between independent and dependent variables (John W. Best)

What are Pre-experimental Designs

Pre-experiments are the simplest form of research design. In a preexperiment either a single group or multiple groups are observed subsequent to some agent or treatment presumed to cause change.

IMPORTANT

Research

methods and Research designs should not be confused. They are different.

Difference Between Research method and Research design

Research

Methods

Research methods are generalized and established ways of approaching research questions (e.g., qualitative vs. quantitative methods). Research method is only about the approach you take in answering research questions, for e.g. qualitative/quantitative methods. Safal Ghimire

Difference Between Research method and Research design

Research

Design

Research design involves determining how your chosen method will be applied to answer your research question. It should answer how you'll use these methods in every steps of research. It includes methodology, sample selection, data collection process, instruments etc. Safal Ghimire

For Example

Let us suppose you are building a house. Then, research method is whether you build a hut or a palace. But research design is all about how many rooms will you have, what sorts of windows, where will be the main entrance, where will be the lounge and kitchen etc. Along with this, design should also answer how you are going to protect it from earthquakes and fire etc. Safal Ghimire

Experimental Research Design

In discussing experimental designs, the following Campbell andStanley's symbol system is used:

(John W. Best)

Principles of Experimental Designs

Randomization. Replication. Local

control.

Randomization
use of chance to divide experimental units into groups A process of assigning the treatments among the experimental units such that every treatment has equal chance of being assigned to any experimental unit

Replication
Repetition of the experiment on many experimental units. It is a repetition of the basic experiment. In other words, it is a complete run for all the treatments to be tested in the experiment.

Local control
Process of minimizing the experimental error. It includes all practices or techniques used to minimize the experimental error which includes balancing, blocking, and grouping of experimental units

Advantages

As exploratory approaches, preexperiments can be a cost-effective way to discern whether a potential explanation is worthy of further investigation.

Disadvantages
Disadvantages Pre-experiments offer few advantages since it is often difficult or impossible to rule out alternative explanations. The nearly insurmountable threats to their validity are clearly the most important disadvantage of preexperimental research designs.

References

Basic Principles of Experimental Designs. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.emathzone.com/tutorials/basic-statistics/basic-principlesof-experimental-designs.html Best, J. W. (1970). Research in education. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_of_experiments#Principles_of_ex perimental_design.2C_following_Ronald_A._Fisher

Safal Ghimire: Difference between Research Methods and Research Design. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://safalghimire.blogspot.com/2013/07/difference-betweenresearch-methods-and.html