Field Experiments Flashcards
What is a field experiment?
It is an experiment that takes place in the participant’s own environment. There must be at least one IV that is manipulated and at least one DV measured
What are the key features of a field experiment?
○ It takes place in the participant’s natural environment
○ There is at least one IV and DV
What field experiment did Brickmann do?
Brickmann tested the effects of perceived authority. There were confederates dressed either in a sports jacket and a tie, a milk man or a guard. These people would ask people to either pick litter or give someone money for a parking meter. Participants obeyed more when the confederate was dressed as a guard. This study suggests that people are more likely to obey a figure of authority rather than others
What are the advantages of field experiments?
○ There is higher mundane realism as the setting is more natural than artificial leading to there being higher ecological validity
○ There is a great reduction of demand characteristics as the participant will be less likely to become suspicious of being under observation in their own everyday life. This results in more valid behaviour
○ Cause and effect relationships can be discovered as the researcher is able to control the IV and DV
What are the disadvantages of field experiments?
○ The researcher does have total control over the environment, making it harder to control extraneous and confounding variables. This can lead to the reduction of internal validity as we cannot be certain that it was the IV that changed the DV
○ The researcher might be manipulating the environment so, though it isn’t great, there is still the risk of demand characteristics. This can also reduce the realism of the study
○ Ethical issues can be raised in field experiments as the participants don’t know that they are under observation so are unable to give informed consent, or they might be deceived. This can sometimes lead to psychological harm or issues with privacy
○ There might also be reliability issues as field experiments are harder to replicate
