In 75 to 100 words, explain briefly why you agree with post below, add a contribution and support your explanation with at least one reference.
Post:
In experimental research design the subjects are randomly selected and divided into two groups; control and experimental groups. The independent variable is manipulated in strict controlled environment to examine the cause and effect relationship between the independent (predictor) and dependent variables (outcome). Thus in order to classify a research as experimental there must be randomization, a control group and manipulation of variable (Sousa, Driessnack & Mendes, 2007). In this design the experiment group gets experimental drug, treatment or procedure and independent variable is manipulated whereas control group gets a routine and custom treatment (Helbig, 2018). This design ensures less chance of bias in the research and is considered as the gold standard in research. Example of experimental research is testing the effect and dose of new drug for dementia. In this research design the sample population is randomly selected to put in a control group who receives a placebo, the other one
experimental group gets a higher dose of drug and a second experimental group gets a lower dose. After administrating this for a certain period of time the results are compared between controlled and experimental groups to find if the drug was effective in treating dementia and whether higher does was more effective over the lower dose.
In a non-experimental design the research design is set up to identify if there is any relationships or association between the variables without manipulating any thing because some variables cannot and should not be manipulated for ethical reasons and in many cases the independent variable may have already occurred and no control over them is possible (Sousa, Driessnack & Mendes, 2007). They do not have a control group and the research design is highly flexible. Due to the absence of the control group the
researcher cannot ascertain that the final results are the direct effect of the variable that has been studied. The non-experimental research design study the phenomenon, people or situation in a natural setting without manipulating it, therefore, the findings can be applied to a wide audience. For example; when researchers wants to identify why there is a high nurses turnover is a facility. They would identify various independent variables
such as pay, cooperation between staffs, management, stress, and workload and try to find out the relationship between these independent variables with the dependent variable frequent turnover.
References:
Helbig, J. (2018). Grand Canyon University (Ed). Applied statistics for health
care. Retrieved from: https://lc.gcumedia.com/hlt362v/applied-statistics-for-
health-care/v1.1/#/chapter/4
Sousa, V. D., Driessnack, M., & Mendes, I. A. C. (2007). An overview of research
designs relevant to nursing: Part 1: quantitative research designs. Revista
Latino-Americana de Enfermagem, 15(3), 502-
- https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-11692007000300022