10. Explain the basic features of the ex post facto research design and assess its role in sociological research.

The Ex Post facto means "After the Fact", it basically means something has already happened. The Ex post facto research is designed to study those events

Here the researcher studies the dependent variable to arrive at the independent variables. In effect the researcher asks themselves, what factors, circumstances, occurrences or conditions have led to the dependent variable.

For example, suppose suddenly the number of road accidents in particular locality has increased and the researcher wants to know the reason. So, for him the dependent variable is number of accidents and the independent variables are speed of vehicles, poor road conditions, street lights, careless driving and effect of Alcohol on drivers and the victims

He will interview the surviving victims, the drivers who caused accidents, witnesses and the local people to understand the cause and effect relationship and finally arrive at the conclusion in form of a generalized theory.

The ex post facto research design have impact on the sociological research and theories, even though it is is different from the experimental design but have certain advantages like

1) A vast amount of data collected can be analysed in a short period of time with minimum expenses

2) Unlike experimental design, it happens in the real world

3) Generalization is very good with survey research, especially when sample are representative of the population

However, it has certain fallacies like researcher have no control over independent variables to control the moderating effect and hence complex behaviors are difficult to be studied.