A test carried out in controlled conditions in an artificial setting, aiming to establish a cause and effect relationship between 2 variables
These are rarely used in sociology because of practical and ethical problems
Positivists are more likely to favour them because they produce statistical data, however they acknowledge that it could sometimes be hard to carry them out
Evaluation:
Reliability = laboratory experiments are highly reliable because researchers can replicate them
Practicality = it is impossible to control all the possible variables that can have an effect; laboratory experiments cannot be used to study the past; laboratory experiments are usually small- scale, so it is difficult to investigate large-scale phenomena
Ethics = it can be difficult to obtain informed consent without revealing what the experiment is, which then leads to deception; some experiments can cause psychological harm to participants
The Hawthorne Effect = participants are likely to alter their behaviour because laboratory experiments are not carried out in natural settings
Free will = human behaviour is complex and it cannot be explained with cause and effect, people respond differently in different situations
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Field experiments
They still aim to find cause and effect, however they do it in a more natural setting
The participants of such experiments are often unaware that they are being observed
These experiments can produce statistical data (for positivists), however interpretivists might also go for it because it is carried out in a natural setting so it might be able to produce textual data
Evaluation:
They are more "natural", valid and realistic, avoiding the artificial conditions of laboratory experiments
The more natural the setting is, the less control the researcher has on different variables
Some critics argue that they are unethical since they involve carrying out experiments without the participants being aware they are taking part
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Comparative method
A thought experiment that does not involve the researcher actually experimenting on real people but still designed to find cause and effect
This involves looking at statistics
Positivists favour the comparative method because it produces statistical data
Evaluation:
It avoids artificiality
It can be used to study the past
It has no ethical issues because it doesn't involve real participants
Even less control of variables, so it is harder to establish a cause and effect relatuionship
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