Experimental research design is concerned with confirming or refuting the validity of a hypothesis.

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Experimental research design is concerned with confirming or refuting the validity of a hypothesis. Experimental research has an independent and dependent variable as well as a control group. Experimental research is mostly performed in a controlled environment such a laboratory. As a result, the researcher can manipulate variables (Knight, 2010). The control group has receives the treatment that the researcher intends to study while the placebo groups received no treatment. This is meant to find out causation. As a result, the changes in the two groups are compared. This ensures that the researcher is also able to establish cause-and-effect. An example of experimental research in nursing is a researcher study the efficacy of cholrhexidine mouthwash on prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in ICU patients. An example of a type of experimental design is true experimental design. Non-experimental research design is usually carried out in a natural environment and not requires the researcher to manipulate the situation or circumstances. Some of the examples of Non-experimental research design are surveys, correlating studies and descriptive statistics (Stumer et al, 2011). The researcher is able to establish correlation in Non-experimental research designs. Because Non-experimental research does not have a control group, the research is flexible. Non-experimental designs are usually conducted on studies that are unethical to manipulate or on descriptive statistics that do not require an experimental approach. For instance, a research may assess the multifactorial dimensions of falls for elderly people in a particular nursing home.