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Experimental Research : A Long Tradition Of Psychology And Education

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INTRODUCTION

Experimental research has had a long tradition in psychology and education. The usage of experimental approaches over the past 40 years had been influenced by developments in research practices. The experimental method formally surfaced in educational psychology around the turn of the century, with the classic studies by Thorndike and Woodworth on transfer (Cronbach, 1957). Experimental research is commonly used in sciences such as psychology, medicine, sociology, biology, and so on. It is a collection of research designs which is based on a methodology that meets three criteria: random assignment, the feature being tested and appropriate measures. To explain it further, random assignment refers to other entities that are randomly assigned to different treatment groups, experimental control are all the features of the treatments that are identical and lastly, dependent measures are known as the appropriate measures which are appropriate for testing the research hypothesis. The researcher will then manipulate, controls and measures one or more variables to determine their effect on a dependent variable.

We all need to remember that the researcher cannot use pre-existing large or small classes, because doing so, would violate the criterion of random assignment. This violation if often called self-selection which is a serious methodological flaw in experimental research. Note that the term self-selection does not imply to respondents that have decided to be part

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