Quasi-experimental Design
A design that tests an intervention's effect without random assignment, using existing groups or natural conditions instead.
Quasi-experimental designs compare outcomes across conditions when random assignment is impractical or unethical, for example comparing two intact classrooms that receive different teaching methods. Common variants include nonequivalent control group designs and interrupted time series. Because groups may differ before the intervention, researchers use pretests, matching, or statistical controls to reduce, though never eliminate, selection bias.
For a thesis conducted in schools, clinics, or workplaces, quasi-experiments are often the only feasible route to intervention evidence. The key is transparency: show how comparable the groups were at baseline, control for measured differences, and temper causal language. A limitations section that names selection threats explicitly reads as rigor, not weakness, to examiners.
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