EXPERIMENTAL STUDY generally involves experimental design where treatment and control groups are clearly defined. In education studies, such as you have described is comparison study under different condition. It is not an experimental design. One of the factor that renders the study non-experimental is the subject matter of the study, not online or onsite condition. Here, the subject matters that student study are most likely to be different in different semester, the outcome measurement actually reflects the outcome of these subjects which are not controlled.

ONLINE CONDITION may be used as the determinant factor, however the subject of study must be the same. That is to say, BUT FOR the instructional delivery method, everything else are equal, i.e. course subject materials should be the same.

OTHER MEASUREMENTS may be explored to see the difference between online and onsite results. It may be advisable to collect written survey from students to determine how online learning effect their learning outcome. Then, these survey result may be compare to their grades for the semester.

Must not

In any empirical study one needs controls and variables, using and building upon the accessible information, past, present, provides indicators for future values. Any process is as good as the initial question, the answers and outcomes are birthed with original thought. Bravo to your efforts!

Not necessarily, but in experimental research, you need to control all irrelevant variables that may affect the result, only to see whether this difference in result is caused by the different treatments that you focus. So if the control group and experimental group are in different semesters, it will be difficult for you to control the variables like different instructional methods from different teachers, different measurements, time change, new digital learning innovations, or even different learning atmosphere during the pandemic, and so on. There are too many variables to be controlled.

Thank you for your answers. They are very relevant in my concern. In this study, I'm the teacher in the different semesters, and I apply the educational technology in class which allows controlling the different instructional methods that can influence the results. Also, the technology is incorporated as part of the projects and assignments that the students should deliver in the semester. That is, the technology is used actively by the students that is the idea of the study.

Again thanks a lot.

Best regards,

Jonathan

Jonathan Álvarez Ariza ,

In experimental research, the variables are necessary to make as minimal as possible. The control in the same semester means fewer variables than the control in the other semester.

In studies where the findings of variable of the experimental group are compared with the control may at a times are taken from previous studies _ then known as historical control. The same process may be valid for your study

Thank you for your comments.

Control group and experimental group should match ideally to control so many variables in an experimental study in Education.It requires the subjects to be in the same semester.But it may not be necessary when you have to raise a large sample size or your study permits you variation of this nature. So,it depends absolutely on the problem under study.

I think yes, because there will be more variables affect the validity in this way

Hello, Jonathan. It depends on what questions you are trying to answer. I know about several studies in which the only criteria is that all participants are from higher education, no matter in which semester they are. But, in other studies, the semester is the criteria for including some students in one group and some students in other one. That is why I am telling you that depends on your research question. For a more accurate answer, more information about your study is needed.