Experimental Methods Flashcards
What is a laboratory experiment?
A lab experiment is where the psychologist has a strict control over the IV as well as a strict control over the environment i.e. the research setting.
Discuss 2 strengths of laboratory experiments.
-Highly controlled and increasingly objective which enables a researchers to establish cause and effect relationships. This increases internal validity of the findings.
-Highly controlled and have standardised and reliable procedures which can be replicated. This allows us to gather the same/similar findings, so external reliability is increased.
Discuss 2 weaknesses of laboratory experiments.
-Since they are highly controlled and conducted in highly contrived and artificial settings, they lack ecological validity. The tasks involved in the lab experiments are not reflective of everyday life and may not be familiar to participants.
-Demand characteristics are more likely to influence findings since participants know that they are being studied. They may try to guess the aim of the study and behave in a way they believe is expected of them by the researcher.
What is a field experiment?
A field experiment is where the psychologist has a control over the IV but the research is conducted in the participants natural environment.
Discuss 2 strengths of field experiments.
-They are high in ecological validity, since the research is conducted in the participants natural environment. This means participant behaviour is likely to be reflective of their normal behaviour.
-Demand characteristics are less likely to influence findings, since participants do not often know they are being studied. This means they are less likely to guess the aim of the study and behave in ways which are not reflective of their natural behaviour. This increases internal validity.
Discuss 2 weaknesses of field experiments.
-Due to the lack of control over the environment, confounding variables are more likely to affect the results. This means that a psychologist cannot be certain whether the IV or an uncontrolled variable has influenced the DV, and so cause and effect relationships are harder to establish.
-There are issues with the way data is gathered, since we have to ensure the information is collected in an appropriate and ethical way.
What is a quasi experiment?
A quasi experiment is where the IV is naturally occurring and does not need to be set up by the researchers.
What is a quasi under lab conditions?
IV is naturally occurring but the research is conducted in a highly controlled and artificial setting.
What is quasi under field conditions?
IV is naturally occurring but the research is conducted in a natural and uncontrolled setting.
Discuss a strength of a quasi experiment.
-It enables researchers to investigate variables that were sensitive or unethical to research in the first place. E.g. depressed patients vs non-depressed patients.
Discuss a weakness of a quasi experiment.
-The internal validity of quasi experiments is low since participants cannot be randomly assigned to conditions, so we cannot be sure if any additional variables have influenced the DV.
