The Simple Experiment
How researchers Find Cause-and-Effect relationships
By Kendra Cherry
Simple experiments can be useful when looking for causal relationships.
When researchers are trying to determine if changes in one variable lead to changes in another variable, they must perform experiments in order to establish a causal relationship.Other research methods (such as correlational studies) can be used to establish that a relationship between to variables exists , but an actual experiment is necessary to establish that it is acause – and – effect type of relationship.
Experiments can be extremely complex and included a multitude of variables However,one of the most basic methods is to use what is known as a simple experiment .
What is a Simple Experiment ?
A simple experiment can establish cause-and-effect , so this type of study is often used to determine the effect of a treatment.For examples ,researchers might want to determine if administering a certain type of medicine leads to an improvement of symptoms . In simple experiment,study participants are randomly assigned to One of two groups .Generally , one group is the control group and receives no treatment while the other group is the experimental group and receives the treatment .
Parts of a simple experiment
The simple experiment is composed of a few key elements :-
The experimental hypothesis : A statement that predicts that the treatment will cause an effect . The experimental hypothesis will always be phrased as a cause-and-effect statement for example , researchers might propose a hypothesis that : “Administration of Medicine effect of Medicine A will result in areduction of symptoms of Disease b” .
The null hypothsis : A hypothesis that the experimental treatment will have no effect on participants or dependent variables . it is important to note that failing to find an impact another variable that the researchers are not measuring in the current experiment .
The independent variable : The treatment variable that is manipulated by the experimenter .
The dependent variable : The response that the experimenter is measuring .