Identifying Research Methodology: Social Media Study

Psychologists often utilize various research designs to explore complex behavioral phenomena. A researcher studying the effects of social media on self-esteem wants to determine if there is a causal relationship between the amount of time spent on social media and levels of self-esteem among teenagers. To achieve this, the researcher decides to allocate participants into two different groups: one group that will not use social media for a week and another group that can continue their usual social media use. At the end of the week, both groups complete a self-esteem assessment questionnaire.

Which research method is primarily used in this study?