experiments

Question 1

what is an experiment?

Answer 1

a research method which demonstrates casual relationships

Question 2

what do all experimental methods involve?

Answer 2

iv and dv

Question 3

what are the different types of experiments?

Answer 3

• lab
• field
• quasi

Question 4

what is a lab experiment?

Answer 4

experiment that takes place in a very controlled environment

Question 5

strengths of lab experiments

Answer 5

• allow confident cause and effect conclusions due to high EV control and IV manipulation
• high reliability. for example, they use standardised procedures with high control over extraneous variables. therefore, it is easy to replicate these experiments and test for consistency.

Question 6

weaknesses of lab experiments

Answer 6

• a weakness of lab experiments is that they lack ecological validity. for example, they take place in controlled, artificial environments which is unnatural for the participants. therefore, their behaviours may not reflect real life. additionally, there is the risk of demand characteristics as the participants are often aware of being in a study.
• demand characteristics or experimenter effects may bias the results and become confounding variables.

Question 7

what is a field experiment?

Answer 7

• experiment that takes place in a real-life, natural setting
• experimenter manipulates one or more independent variables and measures the effects on the dependent variable
• participants are unaware they are being studied, and the experimenter has less control over the extraneous variables.

Question 8

strengths of field experiments

Answer 8

• higher ecological validity as the environment is natural and more like real life, can generalise findings to target population
• demand characteristics are less likely to affect the results, as participants may not know they are being studied

Question 9

weaknesses of field experiments

Answer 9

• low reliability - there is less control over extraneous variables that might bias the results. this makes it difficult for another researcher to replicate the study in exactly the same way.
• The researcher’s control over the environment is reduced in the real world. Therefore extraneous variables are more likely to distort the results and greatly reduce internal validity.
• they have ethical issues. for example, as the setting is natural and deception is used, they may be unaware that they are in a study. therefore, there is no informed consent and right to withdraw is compromised

Question 10

what is a quasi experiment?

Answer 10

an experiment whereby the IV has not been determined by the researcher, instead it naturally exists

used when iv can’t be controlled due to ethical or practical reasons

Question 11

strengths of quasi experiments

Answer 11

• high ecological validity – due to the lack of involvement of the researcher; variables are naturally occurring so findings can be easily generalised to other (real life) settings

Question 12

weaknesses of quasi experiments

Answer 12

• low internal validity - have no control over the environment and other extraneous variables which means that the researcher cannot always accurately assess the effects of the I.V,
• not replicable - due to the researcher’s lack of control, research procedures cannot be repeated so that the reliability of results cannot be checked