Laboratory experiments

Practical advantages of lab experiments?

No access required

costs are likely to be low

Ethical advantages of lab experiments?

Consent easily obtained

Easy to ensure anonymity

Are lab experiments a reliable method?

Due to high control over variables lab experiments can easily be repeated

Which theoretical perspective would favour lab experiments?

Positivists - highly scientific method which allows for high levels of researcher control and the ability to produce quantitative data

Practical disadvantages of lab experiments?

Time consuming

Many researcher skills required to carry out

Ethical disadvantages of lab experiments?

Potential lack of informed consent

Participants may feel unable to withdraw

Harm may be caused to participants

Why might lab experiments lack validity?

The Hawthorne effect

Artificial environment is likely to make people feel less comfortable and therefore change their behaviour

Why might lab experiments be unrepresentative?

Small sample size will not be representative and generalisations cannot be made

Which theoretical perspective would not favour lab experiments?

Interpretivists - experiments an inappropriate method to use to explore human behaviour