Laboratory experiment

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  • Created by: Shadow
  • Created on: 22-11-20 19:29

Laboratory experiment

Advantages

  • Reliability- The lavatory experiment is highly reliable, producing the same results each time.
  • Used to identify cause-and -effect relationships in natural sciences.

Disadvantages

  • Practical- cannot be used to study in the past. It is impossible to control variables that were acting in the past, rather than the present.
  • They only study small sample which you can’t generalise. Which means that they are difficult to investigate.
  • Ethical problems- Lack of informed consent as children or people with disabilities are unable to understand the purpose and nature of the experiment.
  • Deception is considered wrong to mislead people as to the nature of the experiment .
  • (Harm) The experiment may also harm the participants.

Evaluation

Reasons why the laboratory experiment is highly reliable:1) original experiment can specify what steps were followed in the original experiment so other researchers can repeat these in the future.2) It is a very detached method, as the researcher merely manipulates the variables and records the results. The scientists personal feelings and opinions have no effect on the conduct or outcome of the experiment . 

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