Criteria of causality: Association. sometimes call correlation. Am empirical or observed association between the independent and dependent variables. They must vary together such as when one goes up/down, the other goes up/down. Criteria of causality: Time order. The cause must come before its presumed effect.
experimental research provides the most powerful design for testing causal hypotheses because it allows us establish confidently the first 3 criteria for causality (association, time order, non-spuriousness) True experiments have at least 3 features that help us meet the 3 criteria to establish causality. 1.
The pretest is the exact same as the posttest but is administered at a different time. Posttest. measurement of an outcome (dependent variable) after an experimental intervention or after a presumed independent variable has changed for some reason. The same as the prettiest but is administered at different time.