field

• Lab experiment is conducted in highly controlled conditions
• Labs provide qualitative data
• Results from experiments can be turned into numbers, making the data quantitative
• Experiments are often used to measure patterns between cause and effect, helping to identify trends between social groups
• Sociologists do not typically use lab experiments due to the unnatural environment
• Participants are more susceptible to the Hawthorne effect in lab experiments
• Hawthorne effect: when subjects change or improve their behavior because they are being evaluated or studied
• Advantages of lab experiments:

  • Informed consent is used
  • Reliable results
  • Little cost in retaining researchers
  • Participants have the right to withdraw
• Disadvantages of lab experiments:

  • In the past, lab experiments have not always been moral
  • Possible harm to participants
  • Time and money constraints
  • Low external validity due to the artificial setting
• Interpretivists argue that humans have free will, unlike objects