Quantitative methods- Experiments Flashcards
What are experiments?
Quantitative methods
They allows for the control of variables within the reaserch setting
Reasechers will usually start with a hypothesis to prove or disprove
Positivist prefer this
What is an independent variable?
What we change/manipulate in a study
What is a dependant variable?
What we are measuring in a stidy
What’s a lab study?
Labs where a study’s done in a controlled precise environment
Why would a researcher want to use a lab experiment
When they want to establish a cause and effect relationship
between the variable
What is a field experiment?
Doing a study in an environment that natural to participants e.g. a street school etx
Why is field experimenting more common is sociological research?
P’s less likely to guess the aims or study
What is extraneous variables?
Variables the reasercher can an unable to control e.g mood of the participant or their tiredness
What is ecological validly?
How much your study represents real life
Examples of lab experiments?
Milgram and Zimbardo
Lab Milligram brief description?
Study in authority
even if it was unethical
If people got wrong answer they shocked them
The learners where actors and tye teachers where regular people
Advantages of milligram lab?
Reliable as all variables were controlled
Disadvantages of milligram lab!
Unethical
No protection from harm (psychological)
No right to withdrawal
Deception
Brief description of Zimbardo lab?
Did another study about prison based on authority
Allocating prisoners and guards based on students in stanford uni offering an incentive
Based on if people will conform to authority
Advantages of zimbardo?
Controlled environment
Incentive offered
No deception as they knew guards weren’t real
Informed concent
Disadvantages of Zimbardo?
No protection from harm
Unethical
Right to withdrawal
Demand characteristics so validity’s a problem
Ecological validity
Field experiment’s sociologists?
Rosenthall and Jacobson
Small and Marshall
Brief description of rosenthall and jacobson?
Went to a school and gave children a test and identified 20% or the students randomly and labelled them as sputters and then told the school who they where
and 57% of spurters a year later they did then everyone else
This was based on the self fulfilling prophecy
Advantages of Rosenthall and jacobsons study?
High ecological validity
Only way to find out specific topics
More valid and less chance for demand characteristics and screw and please you effect
Disadvantages of rosenthall and jacobsons study?
Variables aren’t controlled
Not reliable as it can’t really be controlle
Deception
Unethical
Mental harm and jeprody of the other students success
Feild experiment Small and Marshall brief explanation
?
Reaserch into racism in Bristol
Small (a white man) and Marshall (a black man) where similar expect their race
Tried to get a room in a B&B and tried to see if a room was given
S&M we’re wired up and had a hidden camera
1/3 of b&b have a room to the white man but not the black man
Advantages of small and marshall’s study?
Reliables due to high control
High ecological validity
Disadvantages of rosenthall and jacobsons study?
Unethical as didn’t agree to be on camera or microphones
Deception
Practically it’s costly and time consuming
No informed concent
No right to withdraw
Advantages of experiments?
•Preferred by positivists
•Enables researcher to test hypothesis in a controlled condition
•Easy to control and manipulate variables in order to identify a cause and effect relationship
•Reliable and replicable so therefor can be checked by other reasercher so falsification
•Validty so sometimes the only way to discover true behaviour
•Felid experiment are more ecologically valid
Disadvantages of experiments?
•Criticised by interpritivists
•Hard to control extraneous variables
•Humans are unpredictable so not suiticle in conducting experiments
•Unethical harming participants, deception, a lack of informed concent and right to withdrawal
• Invalidso changes in behaviour e.g. the Hawthorne affect
•Small scale so unrepresentative
•Impractical costly and time consuming
What is the Hawthorne effect?
If your part of an artificial experiment you may deliberately or non deliberately chnage behaviour
How was the hawthorne affect created?
Found at the Hawthorne electric plant by mayo
reasercher looks at factors impacting production gutters testing changes to make them speed up or slow down e.g. by lighting, break timing, temperature
No clear result so conclusion can be made that no matter what they changed they worked harder as workers knew they were being observed so therefore being named the Hawthorne effect
