Research methods (psych)

Question 1

What are the 4 experimental methods?

Answer 1

Laboratory, field, natural, quasi

Question 2

What is a natural experiment?

Answer 2

Where you don’t affect the independent variable yourself, usually because it would be highly unethical. These tend to be experiences or actions.

Question 3

What is an example of natural experiment?

Answer 3

Institutionalisation of Romanian orphans

Question 4

What is a quasi experiment?

Answer 4

Where you are testing the effect of something which nobody has changed (or rather, a personality characteristic).

Question 5

What is an example of a quasi experiment?

Answer 5

A experiment into andifference between people that already exists (i.e. gender, age)

Question 6

What is a lab experiment?

Answer 6

A controlled experiment conducted in an artificial setting.

Question 7

What is an example of a lab experiment?

Answer 7

Milgram’s study in to obedience (1963)

Question 8

What is a field experiment?

Answer 8

A controlled experiment conducted in an ordinary or realistic setting.

Question 9

What is an example of a field experiment?

Answer 9

At a sports event or on public transport etc.

Question 10

Evaluation of lab experiments (pros)

Answer 10

+allows replication
+clearly see a cause and effect relationships are present

Question 11

Evaluation of lab experiments (cons)

Answer 11

-lacks ecological validity
-demand characteristics are present

Question 12

Evaluation of field experiments (pros)

Answer 12

+High in ecological validity than lab experiments, as the natural settings will relate to real life.
+Demand characteristics are less likelywith field experiments than lab experiments

Question 13

Eval of field experiments (cons)

Answer 13

• Extraneous variables can’t be controlled as well which affects internal validity
• Ethical issues- can lack informed consent;
  participants aren’t debriefed appropriately
• Precise replication is difficult, so they have poor reliability
• sample bias, as participants are often not randomly allocated to experimental conditions

Question 14

Evaluation of natural experiments (pros)

Answer 14

+Provides opportunities for research either not undertaken due to practical or ethical reasons
+ Often high in external validity because involves real-life issues as they happen

Question 15

Eval of natural (cons)

Answer 15

• May only happen very rarely
• May not be randomly allocated so participant variables

Question 16

Evaluation of Quasi Experiments (pros)

Answer 16

+High ecological validity - due to lack of involvement of the researcher; variables are naturally occurring so findings can be easily generalised resulting in high external validity.

Question 17

Eval of quasi experiments (cons)

Answer 17

-low internal validity-lack of control - natural experiments have no control over the environment & other extraneous variables meaning the researcher cannot always accurately assess the effects of the I.V
-Not replicable - due to the researcher’s lack of control, research procedures cannot be repeated so that the reliability of results cannot be checked.