Alternatives to Experimentation: Non-experimental Designs

• Limitations of Naturalistic Observation Studies:

  1. It does not lend itself to testing causal antecedents of behavior or determining cause and effect.
  2. A further limitation is that we are dealing with specific samples of time that may or may not contain the behaviors we want to observe.
• Contemporary phenomenology, also called empirical phenomenology, might rely on the researcher's own experiences or on experiential data provided by other sources.


  Qualitative Research
• Source of inferences, hypotheses, and theories.

  Case Study
• A research design allows us to make causal statements between independent and dependent variable

  Internal Validity
• None experimental approaches used in the field or in real-life settings.

  Field Study
• Create specific sets of antecedent conditions, or treatments, to test a hypothesis about behavior for any individual who ends up as a subject in the experiment.

  Experimental Approach
• Types of Field Studies

  1. Naturalistic Observation Studies
  2. Participant-observer Studies
• Important supplement to the scientific method

  Phenomenology
• Researcher uses a prearranged strategy for recording observations in which each observation is recorded using specific rules or guidelines so that observations are more objective.

  Systematic Observation
• Empirical phenomenology sources of data:

  • The researcher's self-reflection on experiences.
  • Participants' oral or written descriptions of their experiences of the phenomenon.
  • Accounts of the phenomenon obtained from literature, poetry, visual art, and television.


  Qualitative Research
• Descriptive research method in which already existing records are re-examined for a new purpose.

  Archival Study
• Working with only one / few subjects

  Case Study
• Used in situations in which an experiment is not practical or desirable and used whenever testing a hypothesis in an existing real-life situation is necessary or important

  Non-experimental Approach
• If we are not able to observe an individual directly all the time, we cannot be sure that we are aware of all the relevant aspects of that person’s life.

  Case Study
• 2 major dimensions of approaches to research:

  1. The degree of manipulation of antecedent conditions.
  2. The degree of imposition of units.
• Generalizability or applicability to people and situations outside the research setting

  External Validity
• A chance that interpretation of the data might be influenced by the researcher's own viewpoint.

  Qualitative Research
• We cannot be sure if the process we are observing in ourselves is not altered in some way by our attention to it.

  Phenomenology
• Five common nonexperimental approaches to gather information and gaining understanding when experimentation is not desirable or not possible:

  • phenomenology,
  • case studies,
  • field studies,
  • archival studies, and
  • qualitative studies
• A true experiment (the antecedent conditions are actually manipulated by the researcher).

  Field Experiment
• Relies on words rather than numbers for the data being collected

  Qualitative Research
• The description of an individual's immediate experience

  Phenomenology
• Focuses on self-reports, personal narratives, and expression of ideas

  Qualitative Research
• Involves no manipulation of antecedent conditions.

  Case Study
• Data that have been collected for other purposes and stored in data archives.

  Archival Study
• Personal experience as a source of data

  Phenomenology
• A non-experimental research method used in the filed or in a real life setting, typically employing a variety of techniques including naturalistic observation and unobtrusive measures or survey tools.

  Field Study
• Source for developing therapy techniques.

  Case Study
• Concern about the accuracy of self-reports

  Qualitative Research
• The certainty that the changes in behavior observed across treatment conditions in the experiment were actually caused by the independent variable.

  Internal Validity
• Antecedent conditions are not manipulated in field studies

• When the observer is also the person whose process is observed, we may not be able to achieve the degree of accuracy and objectivity.

  Phenomenology
• Descriptive record of a single individual's experiences, or behaviors

  Case Study
• The potential for mistakes and erroneous conclusions may be greater.

  Qualitative Research
• It cannot be used to understand the causes of behavior.

  Phenomenology
• It include observational studies

  Field Study
• Used to study phenomena that are contextual

  Qualitative Research
• May be produced by systematically recording experiences and behaviors

  Case Study
• Use words to extract meaningful common themes

  Qualitative Research
• Subjects or others providing data for case studies might neglect to mention important information

  Case Study