experiments Flashcards
laboratory experiments
a highly controlled environment, often used to test a hypothesis.
in lab conditions, variables can be controlled and manipulated.
the results can be recorded and measured.
the researcher can have two groups: one control group and one
experimental group.
experimental group: changing a variable (independent variable) to see if it affects the dependant variable.
these results are then measured against the control group.
advantages of laboratory experiments
easy to replicate - checked by other researchers
easy to isolate and manipulate variables to determine the causes of events
enables scientists to test their hypothesis in controlled conditions
able to make comparisons to similar experimental research
disadvantages of laboratory experiments
small sample size
hawthorne effect
ethical issues: treating one group differently and comparing results.
difficult to isolate a single cause of a social issue, extremely difficult to isolate variables for testing
milgram’s study of obedience
interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person and how easily ordinary people could be influenced into committing atrocities
participants were told by an experimenter to administer increasingly powerful electric shocks to another individual
people will likely follow orders, even harmful ones, when instructed by an accepted authority figure.
field experiments
field experiments are those conducted in the real world under normal social conditions but following similar procedures to the lab experiment.
takes place in the subject’s natural surroundings rather than in an artificial laboratory environment.
those involved are generally not aware that they are the subject of an experiment - no hawthorne effect.
advantages of field experiments
better external validity – the big advantage which field experiments obviously have better external validity than lab experiments, because they take place in normally occurring social settings.
larger scale settings – practically it is possible to do field experiments in large institutions – in schools or workplaces in which thousands of people interact for example, which isn’t possible in laboratory experiments.
disadvantages of field experiments
It is not possible to control variables as closely as with laboratory experiments
ethical issues - lack of informed consent
rosenthal and jacobsen - spurters
aim: plant ideas in teachers mind on expectations and to see if this effects pupil performance
setting: california primary school
procedure: told teachers they had ‘spurters’ in their class, students who received a high score on their IQ test but these students were randomly selected.
findings: all students were re-tested 8 months later and the ‘spurters’ gained 12 additional points whereas everyone else gained 8 on average.
comparative experiments
the comparative method rests on the same principles as the experiment, and is an alternative to it.
instead of setting up artificial environments or situations, the
researcher collects data about different societies or social groups in the real world, or the same society at different times (historical method).
the researcher then compares one society or group with another in an attempt to identify the conditions that are present in one society but lacking in the other, as a way to explain the causes of some social events.
advantages of comparative experiments
avoids artificiality, it can be used to study past events and it poses no ethical problems such as harming or deceiving subjects.
disadvantages of comparative experiments
gives the researcher less control over variables than field experiments
durkheim
investigated suicide rates between catholics and protestants who were similar in other aspects of their lives.
he compared suicide rates in european countries by looking at official statistics. durkheim concluded that the difference in suicide rates can be explained by differences in religious belief between societies.
