Although this strategy usually attempts to answer cause-and-effect questions
about the relationship between two variables, it can never produce an unambiguous
explanation. For example, a researcher would like to determine whether a specifi c treatment program causes a reduction in cigarette smoking.
Attempting to answer this question, a researcher could select a group of individuals
who have signed up for the stop-smoking program and measure the
smoking behavior for each individual before and after the program. The scores
for this group could then be compared with those obtained for another group
of individuals who are also trying to quit smoking but did not join the treatment
program (see Table 6.2b). The quasi-experimental research strategy uses
some of the rigor and control that exist in experiments; however, quasiexperimental
studies always contain a fl aw that prevents the research from
obtaining an absolute cause-and-effect answer. For example, although people
who joined the treatment program may be more successful at quitting, you
cannot conclude that the treatment caused greater success. It may be that the
treatment has no effect and the smokers who were more successful simply
were more motivated. As the name implies, quasi-experimental studies are
almost, but not quite, experiments. In Chapter 10 the details of the quasiexperimental
research strategy are discussed.