research methods Flashcards
What are the 4 types of experimental methods?
Laboratory, field, natural and quasi.
What is a laboratory experiment?
Laboratory experiments are conducted under controlled conditions, in which the researcher manipulates the independent variable (IV) to measure the effect on the dependent variable (DV).
What are field experiments?
Field experiments are conducted in a natural setting (e.g. at a sports event or on public transport), as opposed to the artificial environment created in laboratory experiments. Some variables cannot be controlled due to the unpredictability of these real-life settings (e.g. the public interacting with participants), but an independent variable will still be altered for a dependent variable to be measured against.
What are natural experiments ?
Natural experiments are studies where the experimenter cannot manipulate the IV, so the DV is simply measured and judged as the effect of an IV. For this reason, participants cannot be randomly allocated to experimental groups as they are already pre-set, making them quasi-experiments. For instance, an experiment might investigate the relative levels of aggression observed in boys and girls in a primary school (the experimenter cannot manipulate who belongs to the ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ groups).
What are quasi experiments?
Quasi-experiments contain a naturally occurring IV. However, in a quasi-experiment the naturally occurring IV is a difference between people that already exists (i.e. gender, age). The researcher examines the effect of this variable on the dependent variable (DV).
