Experiments

A typical experimental study involves collecting data on the behaviors, attitudes, or actions of two or more groups and attempting to answer a research question (often called a hypothesis). Based on the analysis of the data, a researcher might then attempt to develop a causal model that can be populations.

A question that might be addressed through experimental research might be "Does grammar-based writing instruction produce better writers than process-based writing instruction?" Because it would be impossible and impractical to observe, interview, survey, etc. all first-year writing students and instructors in classes using one or the other of these instructional approaches, a researcher would study a sample – or a subset – of a population. Sampling – or the creation of this subset of a population – is used by many researchers who desire to make sense of some phenomenon.

To analyze differences in the ability of student writers who are taught in each type of classroom, the researcher would compare the writing performance of the two groups of students. Two key concepts used to conduct the comparison are:

Writing Guides

Statistics

Experiments