Research methods - Experimental methods Flashcards
What does a Lab experiment involve?
Strictly under controlled conditions, i.e in a university room supervised by researchers
What is the advantage of performing a lab experiment?
Increases the level of researcher control
What is the disadvantage of performing a lab experiment?
Reduces ecological validity because of the controlled environment - doesn’t replicate real life situations
What does a Field experiment involve?
Takes place in the participant’s natural surroundings i.e their school or workplace
What is an advantage of performing a field experiment?
Increases ecological validity
What is a disadvantage of performing a field experiment?
Reduces the level of control - confounding or extraneous variables might interfere with the validity of the results
What does a Quasi-experiment involve?
It can be in a lab or field. The independent variable cannot be directly manipulated as it is already predetermined i.e gender. Quasi-experiments lacks random allocation of groups but is like a true experiment in most or all other ways.
What is an advantage of a Quasi-experiment?
High levels of control through careful preparation and planning
What are the disadvantages of a Quasi-experiment?
Cause and effect is hard to infer
Lacks control of extraneous and confounding variables
What is a true experiment?
True experiments controls the variables under investigation and randomly allocates participants to groups.
What do experiments allow?
Experiments allow one variables to be manipulated while keeping everything the same. They allow researchers to show cause and effect
What does a Natural experiment involve?
Takes place in the natural environment. The independent variable is not directly manipulated by the researcher but occurs naturally i.e stress.
What is an advantage of natural experiments?
No demand characteristics to interfere with the validity of results
What are the disadvantages of natural experiments?
The natural setting makes controlling extraneous variables more difficult. which means that confounding variables may be causing the effect on the DV rather than the IV. Internal validity decreases.
Difficult to infer cause and effect
