Causal Comparative Research Causal Comparative Research: Defenition and Purpose
Causal Comparative Research Causal Comparative Research: Defenition and Purpose
Control Procedures
11. Lact of randomization, manipulation, and control are all sources of weakness in a causal
comparative design. It is possible that the groups are different on some other major
variable besides the identified independent variable, and it is this other variable that is
the real cause of the observed difference between the groups.
12. A number of strategies are available to overcome problems of initial group differences
on an extraneous variable. Three approaches to overcoming such group differences are
matching, comparing homogeneous groups or subgroups, and analysis of covariance.
13. Analysis of covariance adjusts score on a dependent variable for initial differences on
some other variable related to performance on the dependent variable.
Data Analysis and Interpretation
14. Analysis data in causal comparative studies involve a variety of descriptive and
inferential statistics.
15. The descriptive statistics most commonly used in causal comparative studies are the
mean, which indicates the average performance of a group on a measure of some
variable, and the standard deviation, which indicates how spread out a set of scores is –
that is, whether the scores are relatively close together and clustered around the mean or
widely spread out around the mean.
16. The inferensial statistics mosy commonly used in causal comparative studies are t test,
which is used to see if there is a significant difference between the means of teo groups;
analysis of variance, which is used to determine if there is a significant differenece
among the means of three or more groups; and chi square, which is used to compare
group frequencies – that is, to see if an event occurs more frequently in one group than
another.
17. As repeatedly pointed out, interpreting the findings in a causal comparative study
requires considerable caution. The alleged cause effect relationship may be the effect,
and vice versa. There may be a third factor that is the real “cause” of both the
independent and dependent variable.
18. The way to determne the correct order of causality – which variable caused which – is to
determine which one occured first.
19. One way to control for a potential common cause is to equate groups on the suspected
variable.