Types Of Experiments

Question 1

What are field experiments?

Answer 1

-takes place in the subjects natural surroundings rather than in an artificial laboratory environment
-those involved are generally not aware that they are the subjects of an experiment, in which case there is no Hawthorne effect

Question 2

What is the comparative method?

Answer 2

-‘a thought experiment’ does not involve the researcher actually experimenting on real people
-designed to discover cause-and-effect relationships
Step 1: identify 2 groups of people that are alike in all major respects except for the one variable we are interested in
Step 2:then compare the two groups to see if this one difference between them has any effect

Question 3

What is an example of the comparative method?

Answer 3

Durkheims study of suicide

Question 4

What was durkheims hypothesis in his study of suicide?

Answer 4

Low levels of integration of individuals into social groups caused high rates of suicide

Question 5

What did Durkheim argue in his study of suicide?

Answer 5

Argued that Catholicism produced higher levels of integration than Protestantism

Question 6

What was durkheims prediction in his study of suicide?

Answer 6

Protestants would have a higher suicide rate than catholics

Question 7

How did Durkheim test his prediction in his study of suicide?

Answer 7

-tested his prediction by comparing the suicide rates of catholics and Protestants who were similar in all other important respects
-his prediction was supported by the official statistics, which showed catholics to have lower suicide rates