Lab experiments

Question 1

What do these experiments focus on?

Answer 1

Proving/disproving a hypothesis about human behaviour

- aim to achieve this by manipulating the independent variable and dependent variable whilst controlling all others

Question 2

Example

Answer 2

Stanley Milgram Experiment

Question 3

Milgram experiment

Answer 3

• Participants were led to believe that they were assisting an unrelated experiment, in which they had to administer electric shocks to a “learner”.
• These fake electric shocks gradually increased to levels that would have been fatal had they been real.
• The experiment found that a very high proportion of subjects would fully obey the instructions

Question 4

Strengths

Answer 4

• Seen as more scientific and objective as they produce quantitative data that can be replicated
• Can create cause and effect relationships between two variables

Question 5

Drawbacks

Answer 5

• The artificial environment can impact the ecological validity of research
• Often require the participants to be deceived

Question 6

Who prefers these experiments and who does not?

Answer 6

• Preferred by positivists

- Interpretivists would criticise for failing to gain an insight into the reasons why