Quantitative Research Designs: Descriptive non-experimental, Quasi-experimental or Experimental? 

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Students often have difficulty classifying quantitative research designs. In quantitative research, designs can be classified into one of three categories: descriptive non-experimental, quasi-experimental or experimental. To identify which of these designs your study is using follow the steps in this video.
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Students often have difficulty classifying quantitative research designs. In quantitative research, designs can be classified into one of three categories: descriptive non-experimental, quasi-experimental or experimental. To identify which of these designs your study is using follow the steps in this video.
First, ask yourself if the researchers did anything to the participants. More specifically, was there an intervention?
...If the answer is yes, there was an intervention, then the study is either a quasi-experimental or experimental. I will tell you how to decide in a moment.
If the answer is no, the study is descriptive non-experimental. Sure, you could be more specific in the description of the design, but for the purposes of grouping your research in a literature review this label is often sufficient at an undergraduate level.
Descriptive non-experimental studies may also be called observational. Some examples of more specific labels include case control, cohort and correlational studies. ...
To find out if the design is experimental ask yourself if it is a randomized controlled trial. Randomized controlled trials are considered the gold standard or "best" possible design (in quantitative research). You may also hear randomized controlled trails referred to as true experiments. However, in the real world it is difficult to conduct a true randomized controlled trial in many situations, which means that a lot of studies are done that are not classified as randomized controlled trials.
Randomized control trials have three key components: a random sample, a control group and an intervention. If your study is truly a randomized control trial it should say in the abstract and/or the methods section of the article. If it doesn't say then it is likely that the study is either descriptive non-experimental or quasi-experimental. You can tell the difference by looking into the methods section further.
...If there is no control group than the study is quasi-experimental. A control group is a group of people that enter the study but do not receive the intervention under study. Instead, they are used for the purpose of comparison.
If the sample was not randomized properly or adequately or even at all then the study is also quasi-experimental. You may also see this type of study being called a non-randomized trial. ...
Sometimes I see students that are confused about the study design because of terms that relate to the length of time the study was conducted or the sampling process. ...
Terms like cross-sectional and longitudinal tell you how much time the study was conducted over. Cross sectional means that data were collected at one point in time. Longitudinal means that data were collected over a long period of time. These terms alone will not tell you if the study is descriptive non-experimental, quasi-experimental or experimental. If you use these words to describe your study design in the absence of one of the labels we discussed in this video you will not have given your teacher enough information about the study design to properly classify it.
Other confusing terms often relate to the way samples were collected, like convenience sampling. Convenience sampling means that the sample was readily available or accessible to the researchers. This term will give you the hint that the study does not have a random sample and is therefore not a randomized controlled trial, but you still need to classify it further as descriptive non-experimental or quasi-experimental.
To decide how to classify the design of a study you are looking at, follow the steps outlined in this video. Ask yourself the following three questions:
Was there an intervention?
Is there a control group?
Was the sample random?
...