A researcher attempts to evaluate the effect of feeding method on…

Concept

Ex-post-facto research begins after a naturally occurring condition or attribute is already present. The researcher does not manipulate the presumed cause; instead, existing groups are compared on a measured outcome.

This design can examine an association between an antecedent condition and a later characteristic, but it does not provide the same causal control as a randomized experiment.

Application

The feeding method is an already established condition in the children, while anxiety-proneness is the outcome to be measured. Assigning children retrospectively to their past feeding conditions is impossible, so the researcher should compare naturally formed feeding groups and study their anxiety-proneness.

Contrast

• Case study method gives an intensive account of a single case or a small bounded set rather than comparing naturally formed groups for an antecedent-effect relationship.

• Experimental method requires deliberate manipulation or assignment of an independent variable under controlled conditions.

• Survey method primarily describes reported characteristics, attitudes, or distributions in a sample without making the prior feeding condition the organizing research design.

• Ex-post-facto method starts from an existing condition and compares its relationship with a measured outcome without researcher manipulation.

Result

Therefore, the appropriate research method is the ex-post-facto method.