方法对比

	因果比较研究	描述性研究
领域	研究设计	研究设计
方法族	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
起源年份	1964	Late 19th century; formalized in social/behavioral sciences ~1960s–1980s
提出者	Fred N. Kerlinger	Francis Galton, Karl Pearson (early empirical tradition); formalized in social science by Fred Kerlinger
类型	Non-experimental quantitative research design	Non-experimental quantitative research design
开创性文献	Kerlinger, F. N. (1964). Foundations of Behavioral Research. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.	Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (4th ed.). Sage. ISBN: 978-1452226101
别名	ex post facto research, causal-comparative design, retrospective causal study, CCR	descriptive study, descriptive survey design, observational descriptive research, non-experimental descriptive research
相关	3	3
摘要	Causal-comparative research is a non-experimental quantitative design in which the researcher compares two or more groups that already differ on an independent variable — one that was not manipulated — to investigate possible causes or consequences of that difference. Because group membership is pre-existing rather than randomly assigned, the design can suggest causal relationships but cannot establish them with the certainty of a true experiment. It is widely used in education, psychology, and social sciences when experimental manipulation is impractical or unethical.	Descriptive research is a non-experimental quantitative design that systematically documents the characteristics, frequencies, or distributions of variables in a defined population at a given point in time. It answers 'what is' questions — who, what, when, where, and how much — without manipulating variables or drawing causal conclusions. It is one of the most widely used research designs across the social, behavioral, health, and education sciences.