Experiments Flashcards
(23 cards)
What are laboratory experiments?
- Experiments conducted in an artificial setting.
- Aims to control all relevant variables except from the independent variable
What are the strengths of Laboratory experiments?
- More control over external variables.
- Highly replicable.
- Causal relationship, easy to establish if one variable actually causes change in another.
What are field experiments?
- Conducted outside the laboratory.
- Behaviour measured in natural environment with one variable altered to measure its effect.
What are the strengths of Field Experiments?
- Casual relationships, easy to establish if the change in variable caused a change in another.
- More ecological validity.
- Demand characteristics avoided as participants unaware they are in a study
What are the limitations of field experiments?
- Less control over extraneous variables, precise replication not possible.
- Ethical issues.
What is a Natural experiment?
- Done in natural environment.
- Experimenter does not change any variables.
What are the strengths of natural experiments?
- High external validity.
- Provides opportunities not previously available for ethical or practical reasons.
What is a Quasi experiment?
- The independent variable is a specific aspect of the participant, e.g. age gender.
What are the Strengths of Quasi Experiments?
- High control, carried out under controlled conditions.
- Ecological validity, research often less artificial than lab studies, therefore applicable to real world
What are limitations of laboratory experiments?
Artificial lack ecological validity, Demand characteristics, Ethics
What are the limitations of Quasi Experiments?
-Cannot randomly allocate participants, harder to conclude the specific IV caused the DV.
What is the difference between an observation and experiment.
- Observation involves subjects in natural environment.
- Researcher does not interfere with subjects they’re studying, however experiment researcher does interfere.
What are the limitations of observations?
- Observer bias, researcher may be looking for specific characteristics.
- Ethical issues if participants unaware of experiment.
- Lack of control variables.
What are the strengths of observations?
- High ecological validity, especially in naturalistic settings.
- Useful when experiments are impractical or unethical
What is Correlational research?
Looking at the relationship between to variables. These variables aren’t manipulated as in an experiment so you can’t say if one causes a change in another, e.g. relationship between number of cigarettes smoked and incidences of ill health.
What are the types of observations?
Controlled observation,
Naturalistic observation - natural setting,
Covert observation - participants not aware being studied,
Overt observation - participants aware,
Participant observation,
Non-participant observation,
Structured observation - researcher has specific characteristics he is looking for,
Unstructured observation - researcher records all relevant data,
What is a questionnaire?
Set of questions to assess persons thoughts and/or experiences.
Advantages of questionnaires
Cost effective,
No demand characteristics,
Researcher doesn’t need to be present,
Weaknesses of questionnaires
- Leading questions lead to unreliable data,
- Social desirability bias,
- Miss understood questions,
What is a case study?
Intensive description of a sign Individual or Case.
Allow researchers to analyse unusual cases in a lot of detail.
Strengths of case studies
Rich data, Unique cases.
Limitations of case studies
Causal relationship can not be established, generalisation, ethics
