This document discusses causal-comparative research, which studies cause-and-effect relationships between variables that are not manipulated by the researcher. It examines how causal-comparative research explores how independent variables influence dependent variables after the fact, without experimenter control. Some key points made are that this method is used when manipulation is impossible for ethical or practical reasons, and helps study problems that can't be replicated experimentally, though it is limited by a lack of control over variables.

1. Causal- Comparative Research

2.  Kerlinger (1973), ’Ex post facto research is
systematic … inquiry in which the scientist
does not have direct control of
independent variables because their
manifestations have already occurred or
because they are inherently not
manipulabe. Inferences about relations
among variables are made, without direct
intervention, from concomitant variation of
independent and dependent variables’.

3.  A type of descriptive research;
 “Ex post facto" research: after the fact or from a thing
done afterwards.
 The researcher is studying the cause-effect relationship
that already exists, without attempting any control or
change in either the cause or the effect.
 In other words, it refers to some type of subsequent
action taken after something has occurred or happened,
and how we want to study or evaluate its effect in terms
of the causal relationship.
 The researcher is unable to control or manipulate the
causes or independent variables and now we simply try
to explore how and why are they related to the effects
or the dependent variables.

4. It is technically different from experimental
research in which we prove this cause-effect
relationship by manipulating the independent
variables.
In causal-comparative research, it is neither
possible nor practical to manipulate the cause
because genetics, time or circumstances fix it.
We have to logically establish the cause-effect
relationship, we cannot prove it
"experimentally."
For example, if we wish to study the
delinquency, we cannot manipulate the causes
of delinquency.

5. Characteristics of Ex Post
Facto Research
 There is a control Vs. experimental
group
 Intact groups are used
 The treatment is not
manipulated; it has already
occurred.

6. The Nature of Causal-Comparative
Research
 John Stuart Mill's method of exploring causal relationships.
According to Mill's Method of Agreement (1846);
 "If two or more instances of the phenomenon under
investigation have only one circumstances in common, the
circumstance in which alone all the instances agree, is the
cause/ or effect of the given
phenomena.“
It begins with the observation of any dependent variable or
the effect. Then, the researcher starts exploring the
possible independent variables or causes that may be
related to that dependent variable.

8. The Importance of Causal-Comparative Research
 D. B. Van Dalen (1973), "Respect for living things,
prevents an investigator from inflicting unnecessary pain,
hardship, or harm on others, or from interfering in any
way with the normal growth and development of an
individual.“
 Ethical considerations may not permit a researcher to
use experimental method.
 Most of the research studies employ the method of
causal-comparative research since the independent
variables are often difficult or impossible to manipulate
or control.
 This method helps us study the problems that cannot be
investigated under laboratory controls and provide
valuable information about the causal relationships
between two events.

9. Disadvantages of Causal-Comparative Research
 These studies suffer from the following limitations
that are difficult to remove:
– We lack controls in causal-comparative
research.
– Identification of relevant causes is difficult.
– Generally, causes are multiple rather than
single.
– Even after establishing a relationship between
variables, it becomes difficult to determine
which is the cause and which is the effect.