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Re-visiting the Quasi-Experimental Design

Lecture notes:
Re-visiting the Quasi-Experimental Design
 
 
In this lecture we will consider a type of evaluation design, like a normal experiment, includes independent and dependent variables, but involves a situation in which program participants cannot be randomly assigned to groups. Because of the absence of random assignment means that causal conclusions cannot be made, whereas they can be made with some degree of confidence in a purely experimental study, this design is called quasi-experimental (“almost” experimental). When you finish this week in the course, you should be able to:
 

Identify the defining features of a quasi-experimental design.
Describe the features of a nonequivalent control group design and understand why this design is necessarily confounded.
 Understand why matching nonequivalent groups on pretest scores can introduce a regression effect.
Describe the features of interrupted time series designs and understand how they can be used to evaluate trends.
Describe several variations on the basic time series design.
Explain why most archival research is quasi-experimental.
Describe the advantages and limitation of archival research.

 
As a point of reference for a discussion about quasi-experimental evaluation designs, let’s go back to the “true” experimental design. The true experimental design involves the manipulation of independent variables and either equivalent groups for between-subjects design or appropriate counterbalancing for within-subjects design. Anything less than this true experimental design is quasi-experimental—meaning “almost” experimental.
 
Generally speaking, a quasi-experiment exists whenever causal conclusions cannot be drawn because there is less than complete control over the variables in the evaluation. These designs are actually quite important in the evaluation of public programs because they allow for a degree of control. They serve evaluators quite well when ethical or practical problems make random assignment impossible, and they often produce results that can have clear benefits for people’s lives. To date, we have encountered a number of designs examples that could be considered quasi-experimental.
 
Single-factor nonequivalent group designs, with two or more levels
Nonequivalent group factorial designs
P x E Factorial designs
Correlational research
 
Cook & Campbell (1979) provide examples of the two designs typically found in most textbooks: nonequivalent control group designs and interrupted times series designs. We discussed those examples last week. This week will discuss the measurement of impacts in Quasi-experimental evaluations along with a type of evaluation called archival. Archival evaluations involves answering empirical questions by using information that has already been collected for another purpose, rather than collecting new data, and it often includes non-manipulated independent variables.
 
In the most common quasi-experimental design, control or comparison groups are constructed in an attempt to approximate a randomized design. This is typically done by either matching participating and nonparticipating targets or by statistical adjustment of participants and non-participants in an attempt to make the equivalent on relevant variables. In both cases, the goal is to be able to compare the program participants with non-participants that resemble them on those characteristics and experiences related to the evaluation’s outcome measures.
 
The basic formula for impact assessment in quasi-experiments is similar to the one for experimental designs. The key difference is that it contains an additional term representing uncontrolled pre-intervention differences between the intervention and control groups. In this way, the central problem of how to handle selection bias is highlighted.
 
Net effect = [Gross outcome for an intervention group] – [Gross outcome for a constructed control group] + or – [Uncontrolled difference between intervention and control groups] + or – [Design effects and stochastic error].
 
Whether a specific quasi-experiment will yield unbiased estimates of net effects, therefore, depends to a great degree on the extent to which the design minimizes critical differences between the intervention and control groups. When there is a possibility that one or more relevant differences exists between the members of the intervention and comparison groups, as there typically is in quasi-experiments, then it is also a possibility that these differences – not the intervention- cause all or part of the observed effects.
 
Research Using Archival Data
 
Archival data refers to evaluations that use secondary data analysis. This means that the data was collected for a purpose other than the evaluation at hand. There is as much variation in the sources of such data as one can imagine. Public sources of such data include census data, court records, genealogical data, corporate annual reports and patient office records. Private sources of data include credit histories, health history data, educational records, personal correspondence and diaries. The records themselves and the places where the records are stored is the source of the term “archives.” Archives are located in university libraries, government offices, and computerized databases.
 
The greatest strength of archival data is the fact that the amount of information is available is unlimited. This is also the source of a significant weakness since not all data is amenable to study in it current form.
 
It is clear that by it very nature, archival research does not allow for random assignment in between-subjects designs, and this is what makes it quasi-experimental. Like other quasi-experimental evaluations, this type of design often involves sophisticated attempts to control for potential threats to internal validity.
 
Reading Reference:
Chapter 9- Peter Rossi, Mark Lipsey & Howard Freeman, Evaluation: A Systematic Approach (7th edition), 2004.
 
Jason et al., Effects of Enforcement of Youth Access Laws on Smoking Practices
Ballart & Riba: Impact of Legislation Requiring Moped and Motorbike Riders to Wear Helmets (Time Series)
Avery-Leaf, et al., Efficacy of a Dating Violence Program on Attitudes Justifying Aggression
Rotheram-Borus, at al.,  Efficacy of a Preventative Intervention for Yourths Living with AIDS
Bobcock & Steiner: The Relationship between Treatment, Incarceration
 

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