Quasi-Experimental Design

Quasi-experimental designs (QEDs) are a type of design commonly used in communication research. This type of design allows researchers to have a moderate degree of control in establishing causality and is usually used in the field, rather than a laboratory setting. This entry begins with a discussion of experiments in communication research in general and then focuses on the QED in particular, detailing its distinguishing features and common variations.

Experiments in Communication Research

Experiments are commonly used in communication research to study whether a certain variable, called the independent variable (IV), has an effect on an outcome of interest, called the dependent variable (DV). The IV is typically some type of treatment or condition, such as being exposed to a television commercial ...

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