Ch 7- The cause-and-effect relationship

The experimental research strategy's fundamental purpose is establishing the existence of a cause-and-effect relationship between two variables. This kind of approach is recognized as a true experiment which results represent an unambiguous response achieved by considering the four essential elements of this kind of strategy: Manipulation, Measurement, Comparison, and Control of the variables.

Studies that seek to investigate how does sensory stimulation affect human attention are examples of how researchers can use this kind of strategy to produce new findings on this topic.  They can design research using this strategy after to theorize that the misuse of an electronic device as a laptop might interfere negatively in how a student assimilates the lecture content in class, for instance. 

In this kind of strategy, the expected result can be achieved through an experiment that one variable is manipulated (independent variable) while the other one measured (dependent variable), and other variables are controlled (extraneous variables) and held constant to do not affect in the treatment conditions. The critical point of the whole experimental research strategy is to ensure that the experiment is able to separate and isolate the interconnecting variables being studied, to underlying the real cause of this relationship and avoid any eventual coincidence or misinterpretation due to a third -variable problem, for example. In this kind of study, strict control over the range of variables will always be necessary to produce an accurate cause-and-effect conclusion of this specific type of research.

To accomplish the experimenter’s interests in the results, it is necessary to use standardized procedures to hold all conditions constant except the independent variable. This standardization ensures high internal validity (with the use of experimental control) in comparing the experimental group to the control group on the dependent variable (achieved outcome).