Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research in information science

摘要

This is a paper about research designs in information science. We look at a sample of current research and compare its designs with an abstract ideal of experimental research design to see how closely they approximate it. We then consider ways in which research in our field might be brought closer to the ideal. We do this because we believe that experimental and quasi-experimental designs offer unique advantages over other research designs, especially in the production of knowledge that can be applied to the solution of practical problems in information and in software science.