limitations

• Practical – Lack of control

  Although field experiments benefit from the natural setting, as a result, they lack control. The more natural and realistic we make the situation, the less control there is over the variables that might be operating. If so, it is not possible to identify the true cause. For example, when Noon sent letters to prospective employers from  ‘Evans’ and ‘Patel’ there is no way of really knowing that the reason why ‘Evans’ gained more encouraging responses was due to racism in wider society.
• 1. Theoretical – Lack of reliability

  • As a consequence of the lack of control, field experiments are not reliable, because it cannot be recreated in the same way to see if the same results are produced. 

  For example, in Rosenhan’s study, the presence of the other patients in the mental hospital may have impacted the way the doctors interpreted the behaviour of the ‘normal’ researchers.
• 1. Ethical – Lack of informed consent

  • As the subjects have no knowledge that they are part of an experiment, they are unable to give informed consent, and consequently, they are being deceived by the researchers.
• Theoretical – Lack of representativeness

  Like with laboratory experiments, field experiments are only carried out on a small scale, and therefore the findings cannot be generalised to the wider population. Jane Elliot only carried out her experiment initially on one classroom, similarly Rosenhan only carried out his experiment at one institution.