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2.1.1.1 True Experimental Research
True experimental research is one of experimental research types which is usually used to investigate cause and effect relationships. This experiment is
considered to be an ideal design of instructional that can help researchers to maximize internal validity. There are several criteria that we should meet in this
design. First, the subject of the study will be randomly assigned to control and experimental group. In the intervention of this experiment, those groups will be
exposed to different treatments. In educational research, the researchers usually conduct different instructional methods towards the subjects. The control group
consists of research participants who do not receive any experimental treatment. This group later will provide the researchers reliable baseline data that can be
compared to the experimental group results. In contrast, the experimental group consists of research participants who receive any experimental treatment.
In true experimental research, we have independent and dependent variable. The independent variable is a variable which can be controlled by the
researchers. The researchers are supposed to manipulate the variable that is assumed to be able affecting the outcome of the research. The dependent variable
is the outcome of the research. The researchers do not manipulate this dependent variable.
2.1.2 Near-synonyms
Words which share same meanings are called synonym. There are two kinds of synonyms, absolute-synonyms and near-synonyms. Absolute-synonyms is
words or phrases which are identical in every aspect of the meanings so that they PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
10 can be intersubstituted. According to Lyons 1995, p. 61, two or more
expressions can be called as absolute-synonyms if all of their meanings are identical. Further, they should be synonymous in all contexts and semantically
equivalent on all dimension of meaning. Seeing those conditions, it can be inferred that the existence of absolute synonyms is extremely rare.
Another kind of synonyms is near-synonyms. Lyons 1995, p. 60 defines near-synony
ms as “the expressions that are more or less similar, but not identical in meaning”. This definition is same as what Inkpen 2007, p. 2 explains, “near-
synonyms have the senses that are very close each other, they may occur in similar contexts; therefore, we should capture the subtle differences of each near-
synonym”. In other words, even the near-synonyms have similar meanings; they cannot be intersubstituted as they have their own certain context to be used. The
examples of the words that can be considered to be near-synonyms are soft and smooth. The two words would be generally regarded as synonymous. However,
the two words are not synonymous in meaning. There are subtle differences between those two words in which they have their own context to use. For
example, some people may be confused to decide which sentence is correct between My aunt has very long smooth hair and My aunt has very long soft hair.
They may think that both the sentences are correct grammatically and semantically. In fact, as what is explained in the
Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 2008, the second sentence is incorrect since the use of the word soft
is less appropriate in the sentence. The adjective word soft refers to things which are not hard or rough and feel pleasant to touch. Different from the word soft, the
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