Experiments Flashcards
What are the 3 types of experiments?
lab
field
comparative method
Explain lab experiments:
split two groups into experimental and control group to see differences
experimental vary quantity
control keeps the same
variables may be altered to see differences
Advantage of lab experiment:
reliable
specify precise steps so is replicable
detached method so personal feelings are not involved
establish cause and effect
positivists use this
Disadvantages of lab experiments:
practical - society is complex as not all variables can be controlled
can’t study the past
only use small samples
ethical - lack of informed consent
deception
harm - psychological etc
free will - human behaviour shouldn’t be studied as cause and effect according to interpretivists as it should be due to free choices
Milgram 1974
electric shocks
told people to shock there partner if they got questions wrong
after a while person goes quiet
sees if they carry on giving shocks
Milgram 1974 results
65% prepared to send shocks of 450 volts
What is Hawthorne effect?
lab is not ‘normal environment’
people may act differently if they know they are being studied
Elton Mayo 1927
Western Electric Company’s Hawthorne plant
looked at factors affecting workers productivity
e.g heating, light, rest breaks
from productivity increased as conditions did but also increased when conditions decreased
found they worked more as they knew they were being studied
What are field experiments?
take place in natural surroundings
participants generally not aware they are being studied
researcher manipulates one or more variables
Rosenhan 1973
pseudopatients experiments
12 researchers went to California mental hospitals claiming to be hearing voices and all told they had schizophrenia
once in hospital they stopped complaining and acted normal but were still treated as if they had schizophrenia
What did Rosenhan results show?
value of field experiments as more realistic, valid and natural
however, more realistic means less control over variables
means the causes identified can’t be certain that they are the correct ones
can also be seen as unethical as participants are usually not aware of
What is the comparative method?
carried out only in the mind of researcher
doesn’t involve researcher doing research on real people
How is comparative method similar to lab and field?
identify 2 groups as similar other than 1 variable
compare groups and see differences
Durkheim 1897
study of suicide
low levels of integration of individuals in social groups cause higher rates of suicide
Catholicism has more integration than Protestantism so predicted Protestants had higher rates of suicide
studied stats with people with similarities e.g married/divorced, where they lived
his predictions were supported by stats
3 main advantages of comparative methods:
avoids artificiality
can be used to study past events
poses no ethical problems
What are the disadvantages of comparative methods:
gives researcher even less control over variables than field experiments
so can’t be certain whether an experiment has actually discovered a true cause
