Planning, Conducting and Evaluating Educational Research

The planning that occurs behind educational research is an intricate process thus in addition to establishing a research problem and purpose and reviewing literature, inquirers must determine the best experimental design that fits their needs. Even though experiments may share characteristics, “their use and application vary depending on the type of design used” (Creswell, 2008, p. 310). Therefore understanding the types of experimental designs commonly used to inquiry about educational thematic is useful to identify the design whose approach will contribute the success of the research. The two major umbrellas of experimental design include between-group and within-group designs, which are further broken down into three subcategories of experimental design according to their characteristics. On the one hand, the between-group design offers an approach in which the inquirer is able to compare two or more clusters of subjects exposed to various degrees of interventions (Creswell, 2008). The between-group design is widely used in various fields given its ability to provide information that compares the interventions to a control group just as majority of the scientific experiments conducted in a science laboratory. In contrast, the within-group design offers an approach geared towards observations of the participants as they themselves become the control of the experiment (Creswell, 2008). Given the distinction among the between-group and within-group designs, it is critical to compare and contrast the six types of experimental design that fall under each of these categories.

The differences in characteristics of design further subcategorize the between-group design into three experimental designs that include true exper...

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...n experimental design with the proper adjustments to reduce the threats caused by participants, treatments, and procedures (Creswell, 2008). With a significant decrease of threats, a researcher may therefore strongly support the relationship between the variables without much ambiguity. Internal validity is important in any experiment and given that various factors threaten it in all forms of experimental designs, addressing the threats should be a priority during the design of research. If we are going to make a difference in the field of education, as researchers we need internally valid research to support future research and drive educational reform in an attempt to better the education of our children.

Bibliography

Creswell, J.W.(2008). Educational Research: Planning Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Pearson 3rd Ed.