ABSTRACT
The general purpose of all research studies, except descriptive, is to look for relationships between variables (see Figure 4.1, which is Figure 3.1 expanded). As mentioned in Chapter 1, we divide approaches to research into three general or broad types: experimental, nonexperimental, and descriptive. The experimental approach has an active independent variable such as an intervention, new curriculum, or treatment. The nonexperimental approach has an attribute independent variable and includes survey and observational research. The descriptive approach does not have an independent variable. We use the label descriptive approach to indicate studies that only describe the current sample rather than that use inferential statistics to test hypotheses about a larger population of interest.
