Investigator effects and demand characterisitics threaten internal validity.
For example, a questionnaire with leading questions would lack validity.
Investigator effects also occur in the 'hard' sciences, e.g. the uncertainty principle.
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The scientific method may lack external validity
If experimental findings don't match real-life observations they do not generalise beyond the setting in which they are conducted.
For example, Milgram's findings about proximity did not explain obedience in the Nazi death camps.
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The scientific method can be reductionist
Operationalising variables is reductionist as we oversimplify behaviours.
For example, Laing suggested we should consider each case of schizophrenia individually (idiographic approach) rather than describing them as in purely physical-chemical terms.
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The scientific method tends to ignore individual d
Science is nomothetic, looking for similarities and making generalisations.
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The scientific method raises ethical issues
Good scientific research has ethical costs, e.g. psychological harm. A balance between scientific benefits and ethical costs is desirable but may ignore individual rights.
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