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Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research
A survey drawn from social-science research which deals with correlational, ex post facto, true experimental, and quasi-experimental designs and makes methodological recommendations. Bibliogs
84 pages, Paperback
First published July 13, 1963
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About the author
Donald T. Campbell
16 books6 followersAmerican social scientist. He is noted for his work in methodology. He coined the term "evolutionary epistemology" and developed a selectionist theory of human creativity. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Campbell as the 33rd most cited psychologist of the 20th century.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 17, 2010
Campbell & Stanley was a key resource when I was in graduate school. It was almost "Scripture" for those of us taking research methods courses. Even after all these years, I still consult this volume when I teach a course on research methods, to clarify questions about validity and so on.
This is a brief volume, with only 71 pages of text. But an awful lot of useful information is crammed into those pages!
The book considers three types of research designs--non-experiments (or, in the book's terms, "pre-experiments"), experiments, and quasi-experiments. They begin by defining the subject (Page 1): "By experiment we refer to that portion of research in which variables are manipulated and their effect upon other variables observed." A major issue is increasing "internal validity" and "external validity." The former? "Did in fact the experimental treatments make a difference in this specific experimental instance? Page 5)" The latter speaks to (Page 5): "To what populations, settings, treatment variables, and measurement variables can this effect be generalized?"
The emphasis in this volume is threats to internal and external validity and how we can address those threats.
Examples? Testing. If we test people at one point in time and retest them at a second point (using the same instrument), does the fact of having taken the test once affect the responses to the test later on? Or, instrumentation. If we use one test or measurement at one point in time and a different one later on, does that undermine our confidence in the results?
Even though this book came out in 1963, it is still a useful volume so many decades later. One can legitimately define this as a "classic" in the study of research methods.
This is a brief volume, with only 71 pages of text. But an awful lot of useful information is crammed into those pages!
The book considers three types of research designs--non-experiments (or, in the book's terms, "pre-experiments"), experiments, and quasi-experiments. They begin by defining the subject (Page 1): "By experiment we refer to that portion of research in which variables are manipulated and their effect upon other variables observed." A major issue is increasing "internal validity" and "external validity." The former? "Did in fact the experimental treatments make a difference in this specific experimental instance? Page 5)" The latter speaks to (Page 5): "To what populations, settings, treatment variables, and measurement variables can this effect be generalized?"
The emphasis in this volume is threats to internal and external validity and how we can address those threats.
Examples? Testing. If we test people at one point in time and retest them at a second point (using the same instrument), does the fact of having taken the test once affect the responses to the test later on? Or, instrumentation. If we use one test or measurement at one point in time and a different one later on, does that undermine our confidence in the results?
Even though this book came out in 1963, it is still a useful volume so many decades later. One can legitimately define this as a "classic" in the study of research methods.
July 24, 2011
READ MAR 2009
Technical overview of pre-experimental, experimental and quasi-experimental research designs. Nice table showing threats to internal
Technical overview of pre-experimental, experimental and quasi-experimental research designs. Nice table showing threats to internal
November 15, 2023
Completed for PSCI 6350 at UT Dallas
December 15, 2008
Generalizability...
November 16, 2012
Tough read!
Read
February 23, 2013Y
July 17, 2014
A classic. All researchers should begin by reading this book.
October 14, 2015
Necessary. A good supplement for a clinical research methods class.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews