The most common and obvious fossils are the preserved skeletal remains of animals. Other fossils, which are also evidence of past organisms, include leaf impressions, tracks and trails, burrows, droppings, and root casts.
Lesson Summary. Non-experimental research does not mean nonscientific. Non-experimental research means there is a predictor variable or group of subjects that cannot be manipulated by the experimenter. Typically, this means that other routes must be used to draw conclusions, such as correlation, survey or case study.
A type of quasi-experimental design that is generally better than either the nonequivalent groups design or the pretest-posttest design is one that combines elements of both. There is a treatment group that is given a pretest, receives a treatment, and then is given a posttest. Quasi-experimental research involves the manipulation of an independent variable without the random assignment of participants to conditions or orders of conditions. 2  Among the important types are nonequivalent groups designs, pretest-posttest, and interrupted time-series designs.