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Western Journal of Nursing Research, Vol. 25, No. 6, 746-755 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/0193945903253002

Other

Explanations for Improvement in Both Experimental and Control Groups

Heather Becker

University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing

Greg Roberts

Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research in Underserved Populations, University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing

Wayne Voelmeck

University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing

A true experimental design with random assignment to groups protects against false causal inferences that could be made when both the treatment and control groups change because of factors such as testing effects, reactivity, contamination, maturation, history, and other measurement effects. The occurrence of these phenomena, however, provides interesting information about factors affecting health care attitudes, knowledge, and behavior change, which can interfere with a nursing study's ability to demonstrate an experimental effect. In this article, we discuss these design threats, illustrate them with examples from recent health research, and suggest strategies for decreasing them in clinical nursing studies.

Key Words: threats to validity • experimental design


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