Laboratory Experiments

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  • Created by: lucy.3010
  • Created on: 17-05-14 19:13

Laboratory Experiments

Advantages

  • Highly reliable
  • Original experimenter can specify exact steps
  • Detached method so scientist's personal feelings + opinions no effect

Disadvantages

  • Impossible to identify and control all variables
  • Cannot be used to study past
  • Small samples - reduces representiveness
  • Difficult to obtain informed consent
  • May cause harm to participants
  • Wrong to mislead people
  • The Hawthrone Effect

Evaluation

Positivists favour in principle because achieves their main goal of reliability: Careful control over experimental conditions and detachment produce reliable data as other researchers can replicate it, allows researcher to identify and measure behaviour patterns quantitatively and to manipulate variables to establish cause and effect relationships. However: Positivists recognise the shortcomings of laboratory experiments, Often impossible or unethical to control the variables. Their small scale so may not be representative or generalisable. Interpretivists reject because it fails to achieve their main goal of validity.

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