lab experiments

• advantages

  • high levels of control
  • theoretical: high standardisation = higher replicability =  reliability (researcher can write step by step guide, so others who repeat it can follow and gather same findings)
• disadvantages

  • practical: subject may have low representativeness, small sample = harder to generalise to wider society for investigating wider topics  
  • Hawthorne effect - group behaves differently due to awareness of being studied - lab isn’t a natural environment causing atypical behavioural changes = less valid 
  • ethical: deception - participants may not be made aware of true study intentions to avoid changing behaviour + ensuring data is valid 
• theoretical 

  positivists 

  • more associated with lab experiments because the environment is highly controlled, following a standardised format = higher replicability + reliability (they prefer)
  • produces quantitative data which is analytical and easy to compare. they prefer this because they are concerned with establishing cause and effect relationships

  interpretivists 

  • they believe the method rejects idea that humans are agents of free will, can’t be studied and treated the same as objects
  • prefer qualitative data to gather data higher in validity to draw more meaningful conclusions