True experiments have at least three features that help establish the first three criteria for causality. Name those features and explain how they accomplish this.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Experimental research provides the most powerful design for testing causal hypotheses because it allows us to confidently establish the first three criteria for causality—association, time order, and nonspuriousness. True experiments have at least three features that help us meet these criteria:
1. Two comparison groups—one receiving the experimental condition (e.g., treatment or intervention), termed the experimental group, and the other receiving no treatment/intervention or another form thereof, termed the control group.
2. Random assignment to the two (or more) comparison groups.
3. Assessment of change in the dependent variable for both groups after the experimental condition has been applied. This is usually called a posttest.We can determine whether an association exists between the independent and dependent variables in a true experiment because two or more groups differ in terms of their value on the independent variable. One group, the experimental group, receives some “treatment” that is a manipulation of the value of the independent variable. In a simple experiment, there may be one other group that does not receive the treatment; it is termed the control group or comparison group.