Experimental Methods

Question 1

what is a laboratory experiment?

Answer 1

• highly controlled environment
• researcher deliberately manipulates the independent variable to investigate the effect on the dependent variable

Question 2

what is the environment like in a lab experiment?

Answer 2

• highly controlled environment
• artificial environment

Question 3

within a lab experiment is:
- there random allocation of groups?
- the researcher able to manipulate the IV?
- there control over variables?

Answer 3

• yes
• yes
• yes

Question 4

why is high internal validity a strength in a lab experiment?

Answer 4

• high control over the environment
• able to reduce the risk of extraneous variables

Question 5

why is replication a strength in a lab experiment?

Answer 5

enables the research to be repeated to explore the reliability of the findings

Question 6

why are casual effects a strength in a lab experiment?

Answer 6

due to the high controlled environment, able to establish whether one variable actually causes an effect on another variable

Question 7

what are the strengths of a lab experiment?

Answer 7

• high internal validity
• replication
• casual effects

Question 8

how does a lab experiment lack ecological validity?

Answer 8

the environment the research is investigating is artificial, findings cannot be generalised for real-life behaviour

Question 9

why is demand characteristics a weakness within a lab experiment?

Answer 9

participants are aware that they are being researched, may change their normal behaviour for the experiment

Question 10

why is deception a weakness within a lab experiment?

Answer 10

participants are not typically aware they are being researched/ are often ‘deceived’ about the aims of the research until the end of the study

Question 11

what are the weaknesses of a lab experiment?

Answer 11

• lacks ecological validity
• demand characteristics
• deception

Question 12

what is an example of a lab experiment?

Answer 12

peterson and peterson STM study

Question 13

what is a field experiment?

Answer 13

typically conducted in a participants natural/ ordinary environment

Question 14

what happens to the independent variable within a field experiment?

Answer 14

directly manipulated by researcher

Question 15

are the participants aware they are participating in a field experiment?

Answer 15

no - this enables their behaviour to be seen as more natural

Question 16

why can the participants being unaware of their participation in a field experiment be a problem?

Answer 16

may be difficult to control extraneous and confounding environment

Question 17

why is lack of demand characteristics a strength for a field experiment?

Answer 17

participants are not likely to know they are being researched so aren’t likely to guess meaning of the research - natural behaviour

Question 18

why is ecological validity a strength for a field experiment?

Answer 18

more natural environments than lab experiment, more likely to reflect real life environments

Question 19

why are casual relationships a strength within a field experiment?

Answer 19

able to manipulate the independent variable and record the dependent variable to identify cause and effect relationships

Question 20

what are the strengths of a field experiment?

Answer 20

• less demand characteristics
• ecological validity
• casual relationships

Question 21

why is less control a weakness for field experiments?

Answer 21

less control over extraneous variables which may affect the results of the research

Question 22

why are ethical issues a weakness for field experiments?

Answer 22

is participants are not aware they are being researched it may be difficult to debrief them - may cause participants distress

Question 23

what are the weaknesses of field experiments?

Answer 23

• less control over extraneous variables
• ethical issues

Question 24

what is an example of a field experiment?

Answer 24

teacher deliberately collapses in canteen - investigates students responses

Question 25

what is a natural experiment?

Answer 25

independent variable is not directly manipulated by researcher, but researcher takes advantage of naturally occurring independent variable

Question 26

when are natural experiments typically used?

Answer 26

where independent variable cannot be directly manipulated due to ethical/ practical reasons - DV may be testes in a lab

Question 27

can participants be randomly assigned to conditions in a field experiment?

Answer 27

no - and there is no direct manipulation of independent variable

Question 28

within a field experiment, can: - researcher manipulate IV? - random allocation of groups occur? - control over variables?

Answer 28

- no - no - no

Question 29

why is a field experiment ethical/ why is it a strength?

Answer 29

some variables would not be possible to directly manipulate unless they were naturally occurring

Question 30

why is demand characteristics a strength for a natural experiment?

Answer 30

participants are not aware they are in a research study and are unlikely to behave differently

Question 31

why is high ecological validity a strength for a natural experiment?

Answer 31

less artificial than laboratory experiment as consists of naturally occurring variables so the findings can be generalised into different settings

Question 32

why is 'no cause and effect' relationship a weakness for a natural experiment?

Answer 32

not able to manipulate the independent variable and other variables could influence the findings, meaning casual relationships can be established indefinitely

Question 33

why is deception (ethical issues) a weakness for a natural experiment?

Answer 33

often used and no consent can be made

Question 34

what are the strengths for natural experiments?

Answer 34

- ethical - demand characteristics - high ecological validity

Question 35

what are the weaknesses for natural experiments?

Answer 35

- no cause and effect relationship - deception (ethical issue) - confidentiality

Question 36

why is confidentiality a weakness for a natural experiment?

Answer 36

can lead to the participants being identifiable

Question 37

what is example of a natural experiment?

Answer 37

the effect of COVID-19 impacting students level of support

Question 38

what is a quasi experiment?

Answer 38

an 'almost experiment'

Question 39

why is a quasi experiment an 'almost experiment'?

Answer 39

because the independent variable is not something that 'varies' but instead something that exists

Question 40

why does the researcher use random allocation of conditions in a quasi experiment?

Answer 40

because the IV is a feature of the participants e.g. gender, age, personality etc.

Question 41

within a quasi experiment, can: - researcher manipulate IV? - random allocation of groups occur? - control over variables?

Answer 41

- no - no - no

Question 42

why is high ecological validity a strength for a quasi experiment?

Answer 42

less artificial than laboratory experiment as consists of naturally occurring variables so the findings can be generalised into different settings

Question 43

why is 'no cause and effect relationship' a weakness for for a quasi?

Answer 43

- not able to manipulate the IV - other variables could influence findings

Question 44

why is random allocation a weakness for quasi?

Answer 44

there may be other variables that change with the IV that were not controlled - lack of availability to use random allocations suggest that the research may be at risk of uncontrolled confounding variables

Question 45

what is a strength of quasi experiment?

Answer 45

high ecological validity

Question 46

what are weaknesses of quasi experiment?

Answer 46

- no cause and effect relationship - random allocation

Question 47

what is ecological validity?

Answer 47

a measure of how test performance predicts behaviour in real world settings