Counselor Education Comprehensive Exam (CECE) Practice Exam

Random assignment is required in which of the following research designs?

1. Pre-experimental

2. True experimental

3. Quasi-experimental

4. Single subject

The correct answer is: True experimental

Random assignment is a fundamental characteristic of true experimental designs. This approach involves randomly assigning participants to either the treatment group or the control group. The significance of random assignment lies in its ability to minimize biases and ensure that each group is equivalent at the start of the experiment, thus allowing researchers to establish cause-and-effect relationships more reliably. By controlling for confounding variables that might otherwise influence the outcomes, true experimental designs enhance the internal validity of the study. In contrast, pre-experimental designs often lack a control group and do not utilize random assignment, which can lead to difficulties in establishing causal relationships. Quasi-experimental designs may use a control group but typically do not involve random assignment, leading to weaker causative inferences. Single subject research designs focus on individual responses over time rather than random group assignments, which further differentiates them from true experiments. Therefore, the requirement of random assignment is intrinsic to true experimental designs, supporting their robustness in experimental research.