Different research strategies are available to address the variety of questions
with which research can begin. Each strategy is directed toward different
types of questions, and each strategy has its own strengths and limitations.
Although we have identified fi ve research strategies, another common method
differentiates only two: experimental research and nonexperimental, or nonmanipulative,
research. The rationale for this two-way classification is that
only the experimental strategy can establish the existence of cause-and-effect
relationships; other strategies cannot.