Research Methods Topic 2 - Experiments Flashcards
What is the primary goal of scientists in natural sciences like chemistry and physics?
To discover scientific laws of cause and effect.
What are the three methods sociologists use to study human behavior?
- Laboratory experiments
- Field experiments
- Comparative method
In a laboratory experiment studying plant growth, what is the experimental group?
The group that receives varied quantities of nutrients.
What is the control group in a laboratory experiment?
The group that receives a constant quantity of nutrients.
What is the independent variable in the plant growth experiment?
The quantity of nutrients.
What is the dependent variable in the plant growth experiment?
The growth of the plants.
According to interpretivist sociologists, why are laboratory experiments not suitable for studying human behavior?
Human behavior cannot be explained in terms of cause and effect; it needs to be understood in terms of free will and choices.
What is a practical advantage of laboratory experiments?
Funding bodies prefer to fund lab experiments due to their scientific prestige and objective results.
What ethical advantage do laboratory experiments have regarding participant consent?
Participants must give informed consent to be part of the study.
What is the reliability of laboratory experiments attributed to?
- Controlled environment
- Detachment of the researcher
What is a major practical disadvantage of laboratory experiments in sociology?
The complexity of societal issues makes it impossible to control all variables.
What ethical issue arises from the use of deception in laboratory experiments?
Participants may be misled about the true nature of the experiment.
What was the main finding of Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment?
Guards with quasi-power led to the psychological abuse of prisoners.
What was Milgram’s study primarily testing?
Obedience to authority.
What is the Hawthorne Effect?
The alteration of behavior by subjects of a study due to their awareness of being observed.
What are the two main differences between field experiments and laboratory experiments?
- Field experiments occur in natural surroundings
- Participants are generally unaware they are part of an experiment
What is a theoretical advantage of field experiments?
They provide ecological validity, reflecting real-life behavior.
What was the focus of Rosenhan’s pseudopatient experiment?
The validity of psychiatric diagnoses and the impact of labeling.
What is a major disadvantage of field experiments?
Difficulty in controlling variables in a natural environment.
What is the comparative method in sociology?
A thought experiment comparing two groups to discover cause and effect relationships.
What is one major advantage of the comparative method?
It avoids artificiality and poses no ethical problems.
What is a practical disadvantage of the comparative method?
Access to sensitive or personal data may be restricted.
What is a theoretical disadvantage of the comparative method?
Validity can be impacted by bias in the analysis of statistics.
