Nonexperimental Designs

Eugene F. Stone-Romero

The most frequently used experimental design type for research in industrial and organizational psychology and a number of allied fields is the nonexperiment. This design type differs from that of both the randomized experiment and the quasi-experiment in several important respects. Prior to describing the nonexperimental design type, we note that the entry on experimental designs in this volume considers basic issues associated with (a) the validity of inferences stemming from empirical research and (b) the settings within which research takes place. Thus, the same set of issues is not addressed in this entry. Nonexperimental designs differ from both quasiexperimental designs and randomized experimental designs in several important respects. Overall, these differences lead research using nonexperimental designs to be far weaker than that using alternative designs, in terms of internal validity and several other criteria. In nonexperimental research, variables that are assumed causes are measured, as opposed to being manipulated. ...

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