field experiments

Strengths - behaviour

Participants are less likely to adjust their natural behaviour according to the study as they may not know they’re in one - eliminating the Hawthorne effect

Strength - Consent

Can be obtained as long as the field experiment is conducted overtly. If this is obtained, participants can withdraw at any time

Strength - reliability

Natural setting means that participants are more likely to act in a natural way, which increases the validity of the data.

Strength - theoretical

Positivists favour field experiments because it is a highly scientific method which allows for high levels of researcher control, ability to product quantitative data and the ability to identify trends and patterns.

Weaknesses - ethical

Covertly, participants will not have given their informed consent to take part and do not have a right to withdraw, unethical field experiments can cause hard to participant.

Weaknesses - representativeness

Small sample size, not representative, generalisations cannot be made.

Weakness - theoretical

Interpretivists would argue human are increasingly complex and that it’s impossible to identity all possible variables which affect human behaviour, making field experiments inappropriate to use.