Question: Comment1

When I hear the term experimental research I think of medical studies with medications. I know I just got done with statistics and we talked a lot about this topic it seems with control groups and how experiments were done and evaluated. I live in the town where Pfizer one of the large drug companies is based and they are always running advertisements for research opportunities for individuals to participate in. Experimental in my mind is always a control study. Experimental research designs are based on comparison between two or more groups. These groups must be composed of subjects who are similar on all characteristics. If characteristics vary in differences of degree they might influence the outcome of interest, otherwise it is impossible to rule out the possibility that any observed differences at the end of the experiment were due to baseline differences between the groups at the start of the experiment. Descriptive, correlational, quasi-experimental and experimental are the four most common types of research designs. (Burns, Gray & Grove, 2015)

In non-experimental research design, you are seeing how things occur naturally. You do not have a control group and variables you are manipulating. This research design is based purely on observation alone. I view this type of research as one that explores relationships and can come out of a case study. Non-experimental research can be done is qualitative and quantitative case studies.

Comment 2

According to Grove, Gray & Burns (2015), sampling theory was created to determine the most effective way to acquire a sample accurately reflecting the population being studied. This should include the population, eligibility criteria, elements, representation, frames, and plans. Grove, et al (2015)describes the population as the group of individuals being researched, such as people with gestational diabetes. The target population is whomever meets the criteria, such as women who are pregnant who have a previous history of gestational diabetes or new onset gestational diabetes of a subsequent pregnancy. Accessible population is the researched population the researcher has access to such as in an obstetrical clinic or labor and delivery unit in the hospital. Grove, et al (2015) explains generalization as the extension of the findings represented in the research as the larger population. It further explains that generalization is utilized in quantitative studies to generalize the findings of the sample to the target population. This process is influenced by the studies current findings and that of previous research. If the findings are consistent with one another, a researcher can be confident in the generalization of their findings to the target population (Grove, et al, 2015).

For example: the education of a gestational diabetic woman in an obstetrical clinic can be generalized to the target population of education to a woman with gestational diabetes in a labor and delivery unit. This information can be utilized in the evidence based practice guidelines for diabetic education in pregnancy.