field experiments + the comparative method

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5 Terms

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field experiments

aim to overcome the unnaturalness and lack of validity of lab experiments.

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how does a field experiment differ from a lab experiment?

It takes place in the subject's natural surroundings rather than in an artificial laboratory environment.

Those involved do not know they are the subjects of an experiment, thereby avoiding the Hawthorne effect.

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field experiments

The researcher isolates and manipulates one or more of the variables in the situation to see what effect it has on the unwitting subjects of the experiment. e.g. Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) manipulated teachers' expectations about pupils by giving them misleading info about the pupils' abilities in order to discover what effects this had on the children's achievement.

Actor tests and correspondence tests are also types of field experiment. e.g. to test the hypothesis that there’s racial discrimination in employment, Brown and Gay (1985) sent a white actor and a black actor for interviews for the same posts, to see which one would be offered the job. The actors were of different ethnicity, but matched for age, gender, qualifications, etc. Similarly, in a correspondence test, Wood et al (2010) sent closely matched job applications for almost 1000 vacancies, apparently from three applicants of different ethnicity.

Such studies show the value of field experiments. They’re more natural and valid for real life, and they avoid the artificiality of lab experiments. but, there’s a trade-off between naturalism and control: the more natural and realistic we make the situation, the less control we have over the variables that might be operating. If so, we can’t be certain that we have identified the true cause. e.g. while it may have been racism that resulted in the white actor getting more job offers, we can’t be certain, cuz Brown and Gay couldn’t control (or even know about) all the other variables in the situation.

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AO3 - limitation of field experiments

field experiments are unethical, since they involve carrying out an experiment on subjects without their knowledge or consent.

COUNTER: it can be argued that in the case of Brown and Gay's and Noon's experiments, although the researchers did deceive their subjects (the employers), no harm was done, and something of value to society was learnt as a result.

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the comparative method

Unlike both field and lab experiments, the comparative method is carried out only in the mind of the sociologist. It’s a 'thought experiment' - sometimes called a 'natural experiment'. it doesn’t involve the researcher actually experimenting on real people at all.

Instead, it usually relies on re-analysing secondary data that has already been collected. but, like the lab experiment, it’s designed to discover cause-and-effect relationships. It works as follows:
- Identify two groups that are alike in all major respects except for the one variable we are interested in.
- Then compare the two groups to see if this one difference between them has any effect.

The most famous example of the comparative method is Emile Durkheim's (1897) classic study of suicide, which relied on analysing official statistics.
In seeking to discover cause-and-effect relationships, the comparative method has three advantages over laboratory experiments:
- It avoids artificiality.
- It can be used to study past events.
- It avoids the ethical problems of harming or deceiving subjects.

However, it gives the researcher even less control over variables than do field experiments, so we can be even less certain whether a thought experiment really has discovered the cause of something.

While laboratory experiments are rarely used in sociological research, even by positivists, written or self-completion questionnaires are a research method that is very widely used. Questionnaires can be given out by hand and completed on the spot, sent out and returned by post or email, or filled in online. We examine this method next.