The Theoretical Analysis of Experimental Research

Abstract

Among the various research methods, the experiment is particularly suitable for cause and effect relationships. Through observation one finds many things that occur together, but observation alone cannot determine whether one thing is the cause of another. All the alternative explanations must be ruled out. A classic example is the relationship between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. Doubts about the contribution of cigarette to lung cancer were removed when experiment on animals showed that the substances in cigarette were carcinogenic (cancer causing). Other environmental factors such as air pollution may also affect the relationship. The experiment enables each of these factors to be tested in a systematic way. An artificial situation is created in which events that generally go together may be pulled apart (Sommer & Sommer 1980).