Strengths

• 1. Practical – Normal environment

  Sociology is the study of society which cannot be recreated in a laboratory setting, therefore

  sociologists would argue a field experiment the only viable type of experiment for this discipline.

  study the behaviour of participants in a natural and realistic environment.

  For example, Rosenthal & Jacobson (who we have met in the education module) provided fake IQ test scores to teachers, hoping to prove the theory that labelling really does affect grades – it worked! Clearly, it would not have been possible to set up the classroom environment in a lab.
• 1. Practical – Study of specific issues

  Rosenhan’s (1973) field experiment ‘On being sane in insane places’, used a team of eight ‘normal’ researchers who were at different mental hospitals and complained of hearing voices. Each was admitted and diagnosed as schizophrenic solely on the basis of this claim. Once in hospital all ceased to complain of hearing voices and acted normally at all times. Nevertheless, hospital staff treated them as if they were mentally ill. Researchers would have not been able to study this phenomena using any other method.
• Theoretical – Validity

  • no artificial setting , unknown that they're being studied high in validity

  , Jane Elliot’s (1969) ‘Blue eyes/brown eyes experiment’ showed how her student reacted to discrimination, in an attempt to help them understand racial conflict divided her all-white children into two groups based on eye colour told the blue eyed children that they were superior to their brown-eyed classmates, and told brown-eyed, who had to wear identifying collars, that they were less intelligent and poorly behaved result was that blue-eyed children began to behave arrogantly