Editing Content :: Admin Scraper

Chapter

Content type

Position

Value

Field Experiments and Quasi Experiments thecontrolgroupchildrenwhoexperiencedthe earthquake but did not lose their parents. If a researcher wants to have high generalisability or to conduct studies which Thus, a quasi experiment attempts to are not possible in laboratory settings, s/he manipulate an independent variable in a natural setting using naturally occurring may go to the field or the natural setting wheregroups to form experimental and control the particular phenomenon actually exists. In groups. other words, s/he may conduct a field experiment. For example, a researcher may want to know which method would lead to Correlational Research better learning among students—lecture or In psychological research, we often wish to demonstration method. For this, a researcher determine the relationship between two may prefer to conduct an experiment in the variables for prediction purposes. For school. The researcher may select two groups example, you may be interested in knowing of participants; teach one group by demonstration method and another group by whether “the amount of study time” is related to the “student’s academic achievement”. This the normal teaching method for sometime. S/ question is different from the one which he may compare their performance at the end experimental method seeks to answer in the of the learning session. In such types of sense that here you do not manipulate the experiments, the control over relevant variables is less than what we find in amount of study time and examine its impact on achievement. Rather, you simply find out laboratory experiments. Also, it is more time- the relationship between the two variables to consuming and expensive. determine whether they are associated, or Many variables cannot be manipulated in the laboratory settings. For example, if you covary or not. The strength and direction of want to study the effect of an earthquake on the relationship between the two variables is represented by a number, known as children who lost their parents, you cannot correlation coefficient. Its value can range from create this condition artificially in the +1.0 through 0.0 to –1.0. laboratory. In such situations, the researcher adopts the method of quasi (the Latin word As you can see, the coefficient of correlation is of three types: positive, negative, meaning “as if”) experimentation. In such and zero. A positive correlationindicates that types of experiments, the independent variable as the value of one variable (X) increases, the is selected rather than varied or manipulated by the experimenter. For example, in the value of the other variable (Y) will also increase. experimental group we can have children who Similarly when variable X decreases, a decrease in Y too takes place. Suppose, it is lost their parents in the earthquake and in found that more time the students spend on studying, the higher was their achievement Activity 2.2 score. Also the less they studied, the lower was their achievement score. This type of Identify the independent and dependent variaassociation will be indicated by a positive from the given hypotheses. number, and the stronger the association 1. Teachers’ classroom behaviour affects students’ performance. between studying and achievement, the closer 2. Healthy parent-child relationship facilitatesnumber would be to +1.0. You may find a emotional adjustment of children. correlation of +.85, indicating a strong positive 3. Increase in the level of peer pressure inassociation between study time and the level of anxiety. achievement. On the other hand, a negative 4. Enriching the environment of young children with special books and puzzles enhances theirelation tells us that as the value of one performance. variable (X) increases, the value of the other (Y) decreases. For example, you may Chapter 2 • Methods of Enquiry in Psychology 29 Reprint 2026-27