Laboratory Experiments

• Laboratory experiments


  • Favoured by positivists
  • Test hypothesise in a controlled environment where the researcher changes the independent variable and measures the effect on the dependant variable
• Disadvantages

  • Artificiality
  • The Hawthorne Effect
  • Ethical Issues
  • Unrepresentative
  • It would be impossible to identify or control all the variables that might exert an influence on certain social issues e.g. a child’s education
• • Artificiality
  • 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 formal or natural - if people know they are being studied they may act differently
• • Ethical Issues -
  • The researcher needs informed consent of the participants - may be difficult to obtain
• • Unrepresentative -
  • The small scale nature of lab experiments reduces their representativeness
• Advantages

  • High reliability
  • Can easily identify causes and effect relationships
• High reliability

  the original experiment can specify precisely what steps were followed in the original experiment