IHP-340: Experimental Research

Experimental Research:
In this section, we are talking about experimental research versus descriptive research. Sometimes when
we are trying to determine whether groups significantly differ from one another, we are doing so within
the context of an experiment where a treatment is applied. So, by determining whether groups (who
receive different treatments) differ, we are really determining whether a treatment works. An example
is given below. There are other times we want to determine whether groups differ, such as males vs.
females or a comparison of people of different ethnicities. These comparisons, where treatments are not
applied, are examples of descriptive research just as correlations were descriptive in nature; however,
just because groups of people with different ethnicities are different for a certain variable does not mean
that ethnicity is the cause of that difference. And just because variables are related to one another does
not mean one causes the other. Cause and effect cannot be proved by descriptive methods but must be
proven by experimental methods. So, it has been said that correlation does not imply causation.
Here are some concepts that are important:
Independent vs. dependent variables: Independent variables are sometimes called predictor or
explanatory variables and dependent variables are sometimes called outcome or response
variables. The treatment applied is the independent variable and the variables that change in
response are the dependent variables.
Control: A group of people who do not receive the treatment. These participants in the study
are the group who get usual care or no intervention.
Placebo: Used often in drug studies where a pill with no active substance is given to those in
the study who will be the control group. The treatment group would be given the actual drug
being studied.
Spurious results: Results that occur by chance or that are caused by another unmeasured
variable or lurking variable.
Extraneous variables: A variable that influences the dependent variable (outcome variable) but
is not related to the treatment being applied. Extraneous variables often create spurious results.
Independent vs. dependent samples: Dependent samples are samples that are related, such as
pre-test and post-test measurements made in the same group of people followed over time
(repeated measures). Independent samples are samples that are not related, such as separate
groups of people recruited for a study.
Consider the following example:
We want to determine the effect of chocolate on blood pressure, so we recruit a group of people
and randomly divide them into two groups. One group will receive chocolate every day for 3
months and the other group will not get chocolate and will be the control group. All people in
the study will be exposed to the same conditions, with the exception of chocolate intake. Or,
even better, we could come up with something that looks and tastes like chocolate but does not
contain the active ingredient in chocolate (thought to affect BP), which we would give to the
control group. This would be a placebo. We could set this up as a blind study, meaning that the
people in the study would not know if they were getting chocolate or the placebo. It would be
double blind if the researchers did not know which substance they were giving to each subject.
We would measure the blood pressure at the start of the study (but it should be the same
between groups due to the random assignment) and again at the end. If we compare the
chocolate group pre-test BP to their post-test BP, this would require a statistical test for

IHP-340: Experimental Research

dependent samples. If we compare the BP in the post-test scores for the control vs. chocolate
groups, this would require a statistical test for independent samples. In this example, the
independent variable would be whether or not people received the chocolate. The outcome
variable (dependent variable) would be the BP. If we had not had a control group or a placebo,
there would be the chance that something else other than the chocolate could affect the
differences between groups in BP. This would be an extraneous variable.