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Even when a researcher's question addresses a potential causal relationship, a non-experimental design is required if practical or ethical barriers prevent the manipulation of the independent variable or random assignment. In such cases, researchers cannot deliberately alter conditions and must instead rely on the observation of pre-existing, naturally occurring differences to investigate the phenomenon.

Practical or Ethical Constraints Requiring Non-Experimental Research

Studying whether damage to a person's hippocampus impairs the formation of long-term memory traces provides a clear example of when an experiment cannot be conducted due to practical or ethical constraints. Because it is highly unethical and impossible to intentionally manipulate the independent variable by inflicting brain damage on participants, researchers are forced to use non-experimental methods to observe the memory capabilities of individuals who have already suffered naturally occurring hippocampus damage.

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