Quasi-Experimental Research Question 2

Quasi-Experimental Question #2

Using a time-series design would generally be ineffective because it is not clear when the contamination problem started. Presumably, the chemical waste dump was sealed, as most legal chemical waste dumps are sealed, but over time the seal either deteriorated or was damaged by construction projects and/or other work being done in the area. Furthermore, it is likely that once the chemical waste dump seal was broken that the contamination was not equal for all of the 244 homes in the subdivision.

Therefore, a better design would be to compare the families in this subdivision with families from another, nearby subdivision that has not been exposed to chemical contamination. Because health risks are affected by many variables, including lifestyle, access to health care, and genes, it is important to select a comparison subdivision that is as similar as possible on these variables. Since subdivisions tend to have most of their homes in a narrow price range, the income and social class in a subdivision is fairly uniform. Therefore, it should be possible to find another subdivision with a similar social class distribution. Social class and income are highly correlated with many of the possible confounding variables.