Correlational Research Design Vs Experimental Research Essay

There are many research approaches available in psychology. Experimental and correlational research designs are just two of the various approaches taken into consideration for researchers. Each approach is useful and practical when applied to the appropriate situation. Though the approaches are used in different scenarios and are different in definition, they also share some similarities.
Experimental research design focus is towards testing hypotheses, cause and effect relationships, and manipulating conditions in the form of an experiment. In the experimental research design, the experiment consists of two variables, the independent variable and the dependent variable. The independent variable is the variable predicted to have an effect on the other variable. The dependent variable is the variable predicted to be affected. In an experiment the researcher manipulates the independent variable in order to see if there are differences in the dependent variable, while also making sure to keep all the variables constant.
Experiments are appropriate when the subjects are aware they are being …show more content…
Correlational study is appropriate when manipulating variables isn’t practical, legal, or ethical (Psychology 35). An example of an appropriate situation for correlational study is Diana Baumrind’s study of the relationship between parental disciplinary styles and the child’s development. Baumrind couldn’t order the parents on how to raise their children so she instead observed the different styles of discipline that already existed with different sets of parents (Psychology 35 and 36). Through these observations Baumrind came to the conclusion that children with authoritative parents scored better in terms of behavior than children with authoritarian or permissive