Sociology: Experiments

Sociology: Experiments

1. Lab experiments

   • Advantage: Favoured by positivists as they are scientific in nature
     • Highly controlled and variables can be manipulated, see the cause and effects
       • They are reliable, can be repeated as the are highly controlled with set procedures
         • East to make correlations as data is quantitative and variables are controlled
   • Disadvantage: Lab experiments are not a normal or natural setting which causes behaviours to be artificial
     • They are low in validity meaning they are not as detailed and give us a full picture

2. Field experiments

   • Advantage: Slightly more welcomed by interpretivist than lab
     • There are differences between people more than the lab experiment
   • Disadvantage: Interpretivists point out human beings are fundamentally different from plants, rocks and nether phenomena

3. Comparative experiments

   • Advantage: No hawthorne effect
     • Free will
     • Reliable
   • Disadvantage: Free will - individuals have free will meaning they are different to rocks, plants, etc. and should be studied not in a scientific study