advantages and disadvantages of natural experiments

Question 1

an advantage of a natural experiment is high ecological validity- why?

Answer 1

the independent variable is not manipulated at all by researcher
- environment is not highly contolled- participants will most likely act naturally

Question 2

another advantage of a natural experiment is it allows the study of sensitive issues-why?

Answer 2

often involve an independent variable that would be unethical to manipulate
- EXAMPLE(comparing children in orphanage to those adopted to new families

Question 3

a disadvantage of a natural experiment is its difficult to replicate-why?

Answer 3

changes in the independent variable are often ‘one offs’-reliability of results cannot be tested through replication
- EXAMPLE(TV is not going to be introduced to Fiji for the 2nd time

Question 4

another disadvantage of a natural experiment is lack of control- why?

Answer 4

the independent variable is not directly manipulated by the researchers- less control compared to the laboratory experiment