Laboratory Experiments

Laboratory Experiments

1. Key Features

   • Control
   • The subject is divided at random into 2 groups
     • The experimental group
     • The control group
   • Cause and effect

2. Practical Issues

   • Open systems
   • Individuals are complex
   • Studying the past
   • Small samples
   • The Hawthorne Effect
   • The expectancy effect

3. Ethical Issues

   • Informed consent
   • Harm to subjects

4. Theoretical Issues

   • Reliability and hypothesis testing
   • Representativeness
   • Internal validity
   • Interpretivism and free will