We explain what a non-experimental research is and the two types that exist. Also, an example from this research.
What is a non-experimental investigation?
As the name implies, anon-experimental research It is a type of research that does not extract its conclusions definitive results or their work data through a series of reproducible actions and reactions in a controlled environment to obtain interpretable results, that is: through experiments. Not for that, of course, it ceases to be a research serious, documented and rigorous in its methods.
In other words, this type of research does not deliberately manipulate the variables it seeks to interpret, but is content to observe the phenomena of its interest in their natural environment, and then describe and analyze them without the need to emulate them in a controlled environment. Those who carry out non-experimental investigations mainly fulfill a role ofobservers.
There are two main types of non-experimental research:
- Cross-sectional design investigations. In this kind of design, a state of the art on the matter is addressed, that is, data are collected from a single moment, in order to describe the variables present and analyze their incidence or their responsibility in what happened in the investigation. This means using descriptive indicators (they measure or describe a variable or factor) and causal indicators (they offer explanations regarding the indicators).
- Longitudinal design investigations. On the contrary, in these investigations, samplings are carried out over time, considering certain variables and their relationships with each other, to determine evolutions, trends, links, etc. In this way they allow us to understand the complex group reactions of a sector of the population, and can be joined with other measurements to get a bigger picture.
Non-experimental research example
Examples of non-experimental research are statistical measurements, in which public opinion on an issue is consulted in order to determine a joint position. Or the investigations that, having a set of data available statistics, proceeds to interpret and organize them in order to obtain the largest possible amount of relevant data.
Another possible example is the documentary investigations: consultation of sources bibliographic or hemerographic, reading of previous authors and presentation of the findings in a report, rehearsal or monograph. In this case, controlled experiments are not carried out either, but rather the professional and / or personal vision of the author consulted or the researcher himself, if applicable, is used.