Experiments

Question 1

What are lab experiments?

Answer 1

Favoured by positivists, lab experiments test hypothesise in a controlled environment where the researcher changes the independent variable and measures the effect on the dependent variable.

Question 2

What are the advantages of lab experiments?

Answer 2

Highly reliable- the original experiment can specify precisely what steps were followed in the original experiments.
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Can easily identify cause and effect relationships.

Question 3

What are the limitations of lab experiments?

Answer 3

• Artificiality - lab experiments are carried out in a highly artificial environment and may not reveal how people act in the real world, any behaviour in these conditions may be artificial.
• The Hawthorne effect - a lab is not a formal or natural environment - If people know they are being studied, they may act differently.
• Ethical issues - the researcher needs informed consent of the participants, this may be difficult to obtain.
• Unrepresentative: the small-scale nature of lab experiments reduces their representativeness.
• It would be impossible to identify and/or control all the variables that might exert an influence on certain social issues (Eg. a child’s education).