• What are the benefits of conducting an experimental study?
An experimental study is often considered the gold standard of research. Because of the pre-post tests, treatment and control groups, and group random assignment, experimental studies address more threats to internal validity than any other type of study. By having greater internal validity, an experimental study will have the best chance of determining whether or not a program or intervention had a causal effect on the treatment group. Furthermore, any findings from an experimental study can be applied to the population from which the study’s samples were drawn. For example, a robust study conducted in twelve fourth-grade math classes would probably represent the population of U.S. fourth graders and fourth-grade classrooms well enough for its findings to be considered applicable to all U.S. fourth-grade math classes.