Which research design does not establish causation?

Which research design does not establish causation?

• A. Experimental
• B. Descriptive
• C. Quasi-Experimental
• D. Correlational

Answer: (D)

Understanding how cause and effect are established starts with the idea of change that is deliberately produced and isolated from other factors. A correlational design looks for relationships between variables but does not manipulate anything or assign participants to different conditions. Because nothing is controlled or randomized, other explanations could account for the observed link—for example, a third variable influencing both variables, or the possibility that the direction of influence could be reversed. These limitations mean you cannot claim that one variable causes the other from a correlational study. In contrast, an experimental design actively changes a predictor and uses random assignment to group participants, which helps ensure that differences in outcomes are due to the manipulation rather than other factors. Quasi-experimental designs attempt this but lack random assignment, making causal conclusions weaker. Descriptive studies simply describe characteristics or phenomena without testing how one thing affects another, so they don’t establish causation either.

Understanding how cause and effect are established starts with the idea of change that is deliberately produced and isolated from other factors. A correlational design looks for relationships between variables but does not manipulate anything or assign participants to different conditions. Because nothing is controlled or randomized, other explanations could account for the observed link—for example, a third variable influencing both variables, or the possibility that the direction of influence could be reversed. These limitations mean you cannot claim that one variable causes the other from a correlational study.

In contrast, an experimental design actively changes a predictor and uses random assignment to group participants, which helps ensure that differences in outcomes are due to the manipulation rather than other factors. Quasi-experimental designs attempt this but lack random assignment, making causal conclusions weaker. Descriptive studies simply describe characteristics or phenomena without testing how one thing affects another, so they don’t establish causation either.