Strengths vs weaknesses

• Field Experiment:

  An experiment conducted in a more natural environment - anywhere outside a lab where the investigated behavior could naturally occur. The researcher still manipulates the IV to the what effect it has on the DV 
• Field Experiment: Strengths

  • The environment is natural so there is normally higher ecological validity.
• Field experiment : Weaknesses

  • There is less control of extraneous variables so cause and effect are more difficult to establish. This can lower the internal validity.
• strengths

  • Controlled observation• checklist about volts 
  • Qualitative measurements
• weaknesses

  Ethical Issues

  • They did not give informed consent as they were told the false aim → deception.
• Field experiment : Weaknesses

  There can be ethical issues if participants are unaware that they are being studied (e.g.lack of informed consent).
• Field Experiment: Strengths

  The participants do not normally know they are in an experiment and therefore there is a reduction in demand characteristics.
• strengths

  Standardization = •everyone had the same 4 prods  , and followed the same procedure.

  • They were assigned the role of teacher and were told to increase the voltage every time the learner said the wrong answer
• generalizability • different socio-economic backgrounds

  • The Researcher published a ad on a newspaper were people from different jobs could applied
• • An objective record of measuring the voltage levels of shocks delivered — a qualitative measurement — was taken. Results were easily comparable, and conclusions could be easily drawn.
• • Participants underwent psychological harm and distress. There may have been lasting negative consequences as they may have been deeply disturbed by their own actions.

  some suffered seizures and had panic attacks
• Participants were arguably denied their right to withdraw.

  • Only one participant walk out of the study
  • Participants were told by the researcher that " it was vital for the study for you to continue"
  • They didn't knew the nature of the study so they didnt knew they could leave
• • Deception as the chits were rigged.

  • The Paper which decided who was the learner and who was the teacher were rigged. As Mr. Wallace was supposed to always be learner and the Participant as the teacher
  • Participants were asked to come to the yale university to take part of a Memory test.
  • Participants actually belived that Mr.Wallace was under pain