Experiments Flashcards
Control Group
a group treated normally & gives measure of how ppl behave when not exposed to exper treatment
eg allowed to sleep normally
Experitmental Group
group that recieve the experience treatment
eg sleep deprivation
Lab Experiment
conducted in special environment - all variables = controlled ptps aware in exper
Field Experiment
in m nat environ IV still delib controlled - ptps often not aware taking part
Natural Experiment
both environ & IV occur nat - take advantage of event that = ongoing/ has taken place - GCSEs/ nat disaster - don’t manip IV
Quasi Experiment
contain nat occuring IV but = dif between ppl already existing - gender - examine the effect on DV
Extraneous Variables
if not controlled may affect DV & provide false impression that IV has produced changes when it hasn’t - will become confounding if don’t control - will ruin validity of exper
Confounding Variables
an extraneous v that varies systematically w/ IV so can’t be sure of true source of change to DV - has probs affected results not IV
Participant Variables
difs between ptps could affect results - age, IQ, gender
Situational Variables
factors in environ that could affect the results - temp, noise, time of day - also things that could influence - DCs, investigator effects
Demand Characteristics
occur when ptp try to make sense of research situ & guess purpose of research/ present selves in good way - try to live up to demands of situ
Experimenter Effects
result from effects of researcher’s behav & chars on an investigation
What is an Experiment?
aim to measure the effect the IV has on DV
key features: control over variables, precise measurement & establishes cause & effect relas
Independent Variable
variable we manipulate by deliberate changing it to see what effect on DV is
Dependent Variable
variable we measure to see whether IV as effect - try & estab cause & effect
Why don’t we typically use experiments in sociology?
= v dif to control variables
idea of exper = whether in lab/field - phenomena observed in tightly controlled environ to see impact of certain variables - easier to achieve in lab - but lacks validity
socios interested in ppl’s real life behav so expers not best meth
Hawthorne Effect
where ppl behav dif bc know are being watched - so not nat behav - undermines validity of research findings
although those who want socio = sci fav expers human agency/free will menas = v dif to imagine a suf controlled environ for successful socio exper
Example of Field Experiments
Roshenthal & Jacobson
Strengths of Field Experiments
subjects obsv in nat environ = less chance of hawthorne effect
has higher eco cal than lab - in real world situ & can be replicated - feature of sci enquiry
Limitations of Field Experiments
ethical issues - deception & informed consent - unaware are studied
cost = higher - monitoring subjects in real world w/ specific equip to record behav
presence of EVs means can’t produce C&E rela = correlation between 2 factors
Heussenstamm (1971)
example of field exper - theory about police prejudice - 15 students B,W & latino - perfect driving records & same route put Black Panther stickers on bumper = IV - rev african US group fighting racism - wanted to see if treated dif = DV
1 pulled over 3x 3 days 17 days = 33 traffic citations
Evalution of Experiments
Practical
time
cost
ease
reseacher skills
flexibility
access
researcher presence
Evalution of Experiments
Ethical
confidentiality
informed consent
privacy
protection from harm
deception
legalities
Evalution of Experiments
Theorectical
rep
gen
reliablity
data type
validity - research effetcs
validity - detail
obj
Strengths of Experiments
help estab C&E = replicable = carefully doc & controlled means = reliable - can replicate & get same results
can get results w/ high internal validity bc control EVs - but could lack validity if ppl behave differently
produce quantities data - easy to analyse stats & look for trends - Ps value this
Weaknesses of Experiments
may have results w/ internal validity but lack external - DCs & HE
can lack eco validity bc don’t reflect real life situs
lab expers may = expensive - costly equip, time - so may be short/ small scale - require skilled researchers to design
lab expers may not be suited to studying large scale social changes/ LT historical processes = limited in scope & duration
field expers can be affected by EVs that can’t be controlled
