Research Methods

Question 1

What are the four experimental methods and what do they have in common?

Answer 1

1)Laboratory experiment
2)Field experiment
3)Natural experiment
4)Quasi experiment
They all have one thing in common : they are attempting to find a cause and effect relationship between IV and DV, and to measure the extent of this effect.

Question 2

Outline and Evaluate Laboratory Experiments?

Answer 2

They are conducted under specified controlled conditions in which the researcher manipulates the IV to measure the effect on the DV.
Conditions are heavily controlled in order to minimise the effect of extraneous variables.
Participants are aware that they are taking part in an experiment due to the artificial setting.
EVALUATION:
A strength is that Lab experiments have high control of extraneous variables which allows the researcher prevent the extranouse variables from effecting the DV and therefore develop a clear cause and effect relationship between the IV and the DV.
A Limitation is that they lack external validity. Th artificial setting means that the study lacks ecological validity. This means the findings cannot be generalised to the real world because things wouldnt be like this in the real world.
They could also display demand charateristics as they know they are part of an experiment.