Types of experiment

Question 1

What are the types of experiment?

Answer 1

Laboratory, field, natural and quasi

Question 2

What is a laboratory experiment?

Answer 2

They are conducted in highly controlled environments

Question 3

What are the strengths of a laboratory experiment?

Answer 3

• They have high control over extraneous variables - can ensure cause and effect
• Replication is more possible due to the high level of control

Question 4

What are the limitations of laboratory experiments?

Answer 4

• They may lack generalisability as the environment is very artificial - meaning participants may act unusually and therefore they have low external validity
• Participants are usually aware they’re being tested - unnatural behaviour
• The tasks mat not represent real-life experience, meaning they have low mundane realism

Question 5

What is a field experiment?

Answer 5

Experiments that take place in a more natural setting eg a shopping centre, on a street

Question 6

What are the strengths of a field experiment?

Answer 6

• They have higher mundane realism (behaviour is more valid and authentic)
• There is less chance of demand characteristics

Question 7

What are the limitations of a field experiment?

Answer 7

• There is no control over extraneous variables - replication is less possible
• Ethical issues - people cannot consent to being studied

Question 8

What is a natural experiment?

Answer 8

When the researcher takes advantage of a pre-existing independent variable - it’s ‘natural’ because the variable would have changed without the experimenter

Question 9

What are the strengths of a natural experiment?

Answer 9

• They provide opportunities for research that may not otherwise be undertaken for practical/ethical reasons
• They have high external validity

Question 10

What are the limitations of a natural experiment?

Answer 10

• A naturally occurring event may only happen very rarely - this may limit the scope of generalising
• Participants may not be randomly allocated (less sure of cause and effect)

Question 11

What is a quasi experiment?

Answer 11

They have an IV that is based on an individual difference between people - eg if they have downs syndrome or not

Question 12

What are the strengths of quasi experiments?

Answer 12

They’re usually carried out under controlled conditions therefore have the same strengths as a lab experiment;

• They have high control over extraneous variables - can ensure cause and effect
• Replication is more possible due to the high level of control

Question 13

What are the limitations of a quasi experiment?

Answer 13

-Cannot randomly allocate participants to conditions - meaning there may be confounding variables and therefore you can’t establish cause and effect