Field Experiments

Question 1

what is a field experiment?

Answer 1

• they take place in real social world and sociologists either create a situation to adapt to an existing real life situation
• participants are unaware of the experiment (no hawthorne effect)

Question 2

the aim of field experiment

Answer 2

to obtain some control while avoiding the artificiality of the laboratory

Question 3

example of field experiment

Answer 3

Rosenhan’s ‘being sane in insane places’

Question 4

practical

Answer 4

(-) less control over variables because they don’t meet the rigorous scientific criteria of the lab experiment since sociologists cant control all variables.

(-) only few situations that can be adapted to become a field experiment

Question 5

ethical

Answer 5

(-) researchers don’t usually gain informed consent from participants because it would ‘give the game away’ (hawthorne effect)

Question 6

validity

Answer 6

(+) less artificiality because it is set in real world situations
(+) people are often unaware of the experimental situation so they will act normally so their reactions are genuine

(-) only measure what people don’t know why they do it which might compromise their validity

Question 7

reliability

Answer 7

(-) created/adapted from a real life setting so it lack of control meaning its difficult to replicate.

Question 8

representativeness

Answer 8

(-) involve smaller samples of participants which makes it difficult to generalise the results to the wider population.

Question 9

why do Interpretivists prefer field experiments?

Answer 9

• they favour naturalistic field experiments as they see them as more valid

Question 10

why do Positivists criticise field experiments?

Answer 10

• gives them less control over variables so it is a less scientific method than lab experiments