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9.1: Prelude to Quasi-Experimental Research

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    The prefix quasi means “resembling.” Thus quasi-experimental research is research that resembles experimental research but is not true experimental research.

    Hatzenbuehler et al. (2012) is an example of a type of quasi-experimental design. Hatzenbuehler et al. (2012) noted previous research showing that bans on same-gender marriage was related to increased mental health issues but lower rates for medical and mental health care use. If the banning of rights seem to be related to mental and medical issues, could providing legal recognition be related to improved mental health? To test this, medical care visits, medical care costs, mental health care visits, and mental health care costs were compared for gay and bisexual men in Massachusets between a year before Massachusets became the first state to legally recognize same-gender marriage (Hatzenbuehler et al., 2012) to a year after same-gender marriage was legally recognized in the state. In support, Hatzenbuehler et al. (2012) found that both the number of visits and the costs of both medical and mental health care decreased after legal recognition of same-gender marriage for this sample of gay and bisexual men. So how is this not a true experiment? The next section will help you understand, and describe other quas-experimental designs.


    References

    Cook, T. D., & Campbell, D. T. (1979). Quasi-experimentation: Design & analysis issues in field settings. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

    Hatzenbuehler, M. L, O'Cleirigh, C., Grasso, C., Mayer, K., Safren, S., & Bradford, J. (2012). Effect of same-sex marriage laws on health care use and expenditures in sexual minority men: A quasi-natural experiment. American Journal of Public Health, 102(2), 285-291.


    9.1: Prelude to Quasi-Experimental Research is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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