Question

What kind of research could you conduct to demonstrate a causal relationship?

Answer 1

Experimental researches are conducted to establish a cause and effect relationship between various variables. For example if we want to study the effect of stress on performance, we may conduct an experimental research in which stress level of the respondents is manipulated and its effect on the performance is assessed through use of F test or t-test.

In assessing the cause-effect relationship, the Independent Variable (IV) is manipulated by the researcher and the effect of this manipulation is seen on the Dependent Variable (DV). The IV may be manipulated through two methods- instructional manipulation or situational manipulation. IN instructional manipulation , the researcher instructs the respondents whereas in situational manipulation, participants of the research are exposed to different research conditions. The cause effect relationship is thus established between IV and DV.

In some of the researches, the manipulation of IV is not possible. In such cases, the researcher simply assesses or measures the current status of the variable of interest. Such studies where there is no manipulation of IV, only the measurement is there, are known as ex-post facto research. In such studies, correlations among variables are calculated to see the relationship they have with each other.

Therefore, it may be concluded that when IV is manipulated and its effect on DV is seen then such studies are called as experimental studies and in studies where there is just an assessment of the variables, such a study is known as ex-post factor research.