Research methods (psych) Flashcards
What are the 4 experimental methods?
Laboratory, field, natural, quasi
What is a natural experiment?
Where you don’t affect the independent variable yourself, usually because it would be highly unethical. These tend to be experiences or actions.
What is an example of natural experiment?
Institutionalisation of Romanian orphans
What is a quasi experiment?
Where you are testing the effect of something which nobody has changed (or rather, a personality characteristic).
What is an example of a quasi experiment?
A experiment into andifference between people that already exists (i.e. gender, age)
What is a lab experiment?
A controlled experiment conducted in an artificial setting.
What is an example of a lab experiment?
Milgram’s study in to obedience (1963)
What is a field experiment?
A controlled experiment conducted in an ordinary or realistic setting.
What is an example of a field experiment?
At a sports event or on public transport etc.
Evaluation of lab experiments (pros)
+allows replication
+clearly see a cause and effect relationships are present
Evaluation of lab experiments (cons)
-lacks ecological validity
-demand characteristics are present
Evaluation of field experiments (pros)
+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
Eval of field experiments (cons)
- 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
Evaluation of natural experiments (pros)
+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
Eval of natural (cons)
- May only happen very rarely
- May not be randomly allocated so participant variables
Evaluation of Quasi Experiments (pros)
+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.
Eval of quasi experiments (cons)
-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.
