Experimental Methods Flashcards
what is a laboratory experiment?
- highly controlled environment
- researcher deliberately manipulates the independent variable to investigate the effect on the dependent variable
what is the environment like in a lab experiment?
- highly controlled environment
- artificial environment
within a lab experiment is:
- there random allocation of groups?
- the researcher able to manipulate the IV?
- there control over variables?
- yes
- yes
- yes
why is high internal validity a strength in a lab experiment?
- high control over the environment
- able to reduce the risk of extraneous variables
why is replication a strength in a lab experiment?
enables the research to be repeated to explore the reliability of the findings
why are casual effects a strength in a lab experiment?
due to the high controlled environment, able to establish whether one variable actually causes an effect on another variable
what are the strengths of a lab experiment?
- high internal validity
- replication
- casual effects
how does a lab experiment lack ecological validity?
the environment the research is investigating is artificial, findings cannot be generalised for real-life behaviour
why is demand characteristics a weakness within a lab experiment?
participants are aware that they are being researched, may change their normal behaviour for the experiment
why is deception a weakness within a lab experiment?
participants are not typically aware they are being researched/ are often ‘deceived’ about the aims of the research until the end of the study
what are the weaknesses of a lab experiment?
- lacks ecological validity
- demand characteristics
- deception
what is an example of a lab experiment?
peterson and peterson STM study
what is a field experiment?
typically conducted in a participants natural/ ordinary environment
what happens to the independent variable within a field experiment?
directly manipulated by researcher
are the participants aware they are participating in a field experiment?
no - this enables their behaviour to be seen as more natural
why can the participants being unaware of their participation in a field experiment be a problem?
may be difficult to control extraneous and confounding environment
why is lack of demand characteristics a strength for a field experiment?
participants are not likely to know they are being researched so aren’t likely to guess meaning of the research - natural behaviour
why is ecological validity a strength for a field experiment?
more natural environments than lab experiment, more likely to reflect real life environments