Quantitative: Lab Experiments (Primary) Flashcards
What are the main concepts of lab experiments?
- Most scientific method researchers can use.
- Highly controlled.
- Artificial environment.
- Used to test a hypothesis in lab conditions where all variables are controlled.
- To see if one variable has an impact on another variable (independent variable vs dependent variable).
- Experimental group vs control group. (Experimental group = manipulated. Control group = measured).
- The researcher will then alter a factor (the independent variable) in the experimental group to see if the variable being investigated (the dependent variable) changes compared to the control group.
Are lab experiments high or low in validity?
- Experiments can be replicated.
- Should produce the same results every time.
- Scientists’ personal feelings and opinions have no impact on the results or outcomes.
- Favoured by positivist sociologists.
What was Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment?
- Set out to examine the psychological effects of authority and powerlessness in a prison environment.
- A coin was flipped, half of the volunteers were prisoners and the other half were guards.
- Guards led themselves to believe the ‘prisoners’ were really wrong and wore sunglasses. Prisoners were named by numbers.
- Made prisoners depressed and suffered with trauma - ethical?
What was Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment?
- In 1961.
- Researchers physically and verbally abused an inflatable toy in front of children, which led them to mimic the behaviour they had observed.
- Showed that children will mimic the behaviour of adults.
In what ways are lab experiments practical?
(expand on:
- Open systems: Keat and Urry. Social phenomena.
- Individuals are complex.
- Studying the past?
- Small samples.
- Hawthorne effect = artificial behaviour.
- Expectancy effect.
Practical:
- Open systems - Keat + Urry - lab experiments are only suitable for studying closed systems (where all the relevant variables can be controlled by the researcher).
- Society is an open system → there are so many variables at work. It is impossible for researchers to identify, let alone control, all the different variables.
- Lab experiments are therefore not useful in studying social phenomena (observable, measurable data).
- Individuals are complex → it isn’t possible to match members of the control and experimental group exactly. No 2 humans are alike.
- Studying the past → lab experiments can’t be used to study the past.
- Small samples → lab experiments = small samples. It is difficult to investigate large scale social phenomena.
- The Hawthorne Effect → lab experiments = artificial environment. This can mean that any behaviour that occurs in it is artificial. Known as the Hawthorne effect after 1920s experiments in the US where it was first observed.
- Expectancy Effect → form of experimenter bias. What a researcher expects to happen in an experiment can influence or affect the actual outcome. The experimenter consciously or unconsciously treats subjects in a way that influences how subjects respond and creates the result they expected.
How ethical are lab experiments?
- Informed consent → gaining consent and informing the subjects’ of all the details of the experiment. This can be self-defeating and therefore subjects must be deceived so that they don’t act differently.
- Harm to subjects → some argue that minor or contemporary harm may be justified ethically if the results yield significant social benefit. Also if the experimental group is gaining from the treatment they are receiving, treatment should be made available to the control group.
How theoretical are lab experiments?
- Positivists favour lab experiments due to reliability.
- However, they do have important limitations.
- Interpretivists would argue that lab experiments lack validity.
Are lab experiments high of low in reliability? What is the hypothesis?
Positivists say lab experiments are highly reliable as results can be tested time and time again.
- The original experimenter can control the conditions - others can easily repeat these and the steps taken in the original experiment.
- It produces quantitative data - results of repeated experiments can be compared to the original.
- Detached and objective method. Variables are manipulated. Researchers’ subjective feelings and values have no effect on the conduct or outcome of the experiment.
How representative are lab experiments?
- Positivists see representativeness as important → aim to make generalisations about wider social structure shaping individuals behaviour.
- Lab experiments → cannot be sure if they are reflective of the wider population.
Are lab experiments high or low in external validity?
- Small samples = greater risk of not representative of cross section. Findings cannot be generalised beyond experiment.
- A lack of external validity due to high level of control. High level of control = less like the world outside of a lab situation.
Are lab experiments high or low in internal validity?
- Findings may not be true for the subjects of the experiment.
- Artificiality of the lab encourages the Hawthorne effect. Subjects react to being studied and produce invalid results.
How is interpretivism and free will applied or not applied to lab experiments?
- Humans are fundamentally different to subjects studied by natural scientists.
- Humans have free will and choice.
- Behaviour is not caused by external forces so cannot be explained in terms of cause and effect statements.
- Actions can only be understood by the choices we make based on the meanings we give to events.
- Lab experiments = fundamentally inappropriate method to study human beings.
Methods in Context links…
How experiments are used to study issues in Education?
- Teacher expectations.
- Classroom interaction.
- Labelling.
- Pupils’ self-concepts.
- Self fulfilling prophecy.
What researchers have used lab experiments to investigate teacher expectations?
- Harvey and Slatin.
- Charkin et al.
- Mason.
What are practical issues of lab experiments?
- Schools are large institutions that have many variables that may affect teacher expectations.
- Expectations may be influenced by other variables such as class size, streaming, type of school.
- Impossible to identify and therefore control all the variables that might influence teachers’ expectations.
- Large scale social factors cannot be studied in small scale laboratory settings.
