Professor House believes that regular exercise boosts academic achievement. To find out if that is true, she compares, over the course of six months, the academic achievement of a group of students who, by their own admission, get little or no exercise, with that of a second group of students who exercise regularly. This is an example of a(n):

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This is because the study lacks randomization or control over the independent variable (exercise). The researcher cannot manipulate the amount of exercise the students in each group are getting, and thus, it is a quasi-experiment. However, it is not a double-blind study because participants are not randomly assigned to a condition and researchers know which group is which. It is also not an expectancy study because the focus is not on how expectations can influence behavior or outcomes. Finally, it is not a clinical trial because it does not involve testing a medical treatment or drug.

Professor House Believes That Regular Exercise Boosts Academic Achievement