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Causal Comparative Research Causal Comparative Research: Defenition and Purpose

Causal comparative research attempts to determine the cause of existing differences between groups by comparing two or more groups that differ on some independent variable. The independent variable cannot be manipulated by the researcher as the groups already exist differing on this variable. Causal comparative research identifies relationships that may lead to experimental research but can only establish tentative cause-effect relationships, not true causation. Researchers must control for other variables like matching groups or analysis of covariance to account for initial group differences.

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582 views2 pages

Causal Comparative Research Causal Comparative Research: Defenition and Purpose

Causal comparative research attempts to determine the cause of existing differences between groups by comparing two or more groups that differ on some independent variable. The independent variable cannot be manipulated by the researcher as the groups already exist differing on this variable. Causal comparative research identifies relationships that may lead to experimental research but can only establish tentative cause-effect relationships, not true causation. Researchers must control for other variables like matching groups or analysis of covariance to account for initial group differences.

Uploaded by

Fitri handayani
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CAUSAL COMPARATIVE RESEARCH

Causal Comparative Research: Defenition and Purpose


1. In causal comparative or ec post facto research, the researcher attempts to determine the
cause or reasson for existing differences in the behavior or status of groups.
2. The basic causal comparative approach is retrospective, that is, it starts with an effect and
seeks its possible causes. A variation of the basic approach is prospective – that is,
starting with a cause and investigating its effect on some variable.
3. An important difference between causal comparative and correlational research is that
causal comparative studies involve two or more groups and one independent variable
whereas correlational studies involve two or more variables and one group. Neither
causal comparative nor correlational research produce true experimental data.
4. The major difference between experimental research and causal comparative research is
that in experimental research, the independent variable or the alleged cause is
manipulated, and in causal comparative research, it is not, bacause it has already
occurred. In expereimental research, the researcher can randomly form groups and
manipulate the independent variable. In causal comparative research, the groups are
already formed and already divided on the independet variable.
5. Independent variables in causal comparative studies are variables that cannot be
manipulated (such as socioeconomic status), should not be manipulated (such as number
of cigarettes smoked per day), or simply or not manipulated but could be (such as
method of reading instruction).
6. Causal comparative studies identify relationships that may lead to experimental studies,
but only a relationship is established. Cause effect relationships established through
causal comparative research are at best tenuous and tentative. Only experimental
research can truely establish cause effect relationship.
7. The alleged cause of an observed causal comparative effect may in fact be the effect, the
supposed cause, or a third variable that has “caused” both the identified cause and effect.

Conducting a Causal Comparative Study

Design and Procedure


8. The basic causal comparative design involves selecting two groups differing on some
independent variable.
9. The group may differ in one of two ways. One group may possess a characteristic that
the other does not, or one group may possess more of a characteristic than the other.
10. It is important to select samples that are representative of their respective populations
and similar with respect to critical variables other than the independent variable.

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.

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