lab/field experiments
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9 Terms
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lab experiments
provide and environment where variables can be isolated and correlations between things can be measured
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field experiments
conducted in normal everyday situations, unlike lab experiments variables cannot be controlled
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advantages of experiments
* highly replicable (lab)
* it is a very detached method
* it is a very detached method
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disadvantages of experiments
* practically it would be impossible to indentify all variables that might have an influence on society
* an experiment cannot be used to study the past
* lab experiments usually only study small experiments so it is hard to investigate large scale social happenings
* ethical problems. it could be hard to gain consent or fully inform participants on the nature of the experiment
* experiments can harm participants (Milgram)
* a lab is not a normal or natural environment, so it is likely that the behaviour that occurs is not normal or natural. if they know they are being watched it can create the Hawthorne effect.
* an experiment cannot be used to study the past
* lab experiments usually only study small experiments so it is hard to investigate large scale social happenings
* ethical problems. it could be hard to gain consent or fully inform participants on the nature of the experiment
* experiments can harm participants (Milgram)
* a lab is not a normal or natural environment, so it is likely that the behaviour that occurs is not normal or natural. if they know they are being watched it can create the Hawthorne effect.
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theoretical considerations
* positivists favor this approach because it achieves their main aims of reliability.
* they recognize it is impossible or unethical to control all variables and their small scale means their results cannot be representative or generalizable
* interpretivists argue that humans have free will and are very different from what scientists study in labs therefore the lab experiment method is unsuitable.
* interpretivists reject lab experiments because it fails to give them validity because lab experiments are unnatural and produce unnatural behaviour
* interpretivists favor naturalistic field experiments
* they recognize it is impossible or unethical to control all variables and their small scale means their results cannot be representative or generalizable
* interpretivists argue that humans have free will and are very different from what scientists study in labs therefore the lab experiment method is unsuitable.
* interpretivists reject lab experiments because it fails to give them validity because lab experiments are unnatural and produce unnatural behaviour
* interpretivists favor naturalistic field experiments
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example of field experiment
Rosenthal and Jacobson study on teachers expectations
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the comparative method
* carried out in the mind of the sociologist it does include any subjects
* the researcher identifies two groups of people that are alike in all major aspects except for the one variable interested in and compares the two groups to see if this one difference between them has any affect.
* the researcher identifies two groups of people that are alike in all major aspects except for the one variable interested in and compares the two groups to see if this one difference between them has any affect.
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advantage of comparative method
it avoids artificiality, it can be used to study past events and it poses no ethical problems such as harming or deceiving subjects
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disadvantages of the comparative method
* gives the researcher less control over variables than field experiments