Multiple Intelligence Task

Natural/Field Experiments

  • Interpretivists argue that natural/field experiments are a better alternative
  • They follow the same principles as artificial experiments, however don't attempt to control all of their variables and let behaviour and situations take their 'natural course'
  • Subjects don't normally know that they are being studies and hence they should act more naturally

Rosenthal & Jacobson (1968): 'Teacher Expectations & the Effects of Labelling'

  • Wanted to study the effects of labelling within the classroom

Colin Brown & Pat Gay (1985) 'Racial Discrimination Experiment'

  • To test the extent of racial discrimination in employment, Brown & Gat sent a white actor and a black actor to the same job interviews to see who was more likely to be offered jobs.
  • Told teachers that one groupd of students were 'high flyers' whilst a different group were 'less able'
  • Teachers interacted with the students accordingly to the labels
  • They also send out application forms for jobs using the same details apart from changing the ethnicity and names of the 'applicants'
  • They used the surnames Evans & Patel and found that the white applicant was more likely to be offered the job in most cases.

J.W Sissons (1970) 'The PaddingtonTrain Station Experiment

  • Sissons wanted to explore people's perceptions on social class & set upa field experiment in Paddington Train Station.
  • He dressed an actor as a business man and then as a labourer and asked him to ask passengers by for directions
  • More people stopped and gave directions to the 'businessman"

Advantages

Disadvantages

'Natural Experiment' creates high validity

Lessens the Hawthorne Effect

Small scale means that fewer subjects are needed

Acknowledges differences between individuals

Removes volunteer bias

Cannot control all variables

Unreliable

Ethics

Cannot be sure what TV created the dependent variable

Qualitative data difficult to quantify

The Comparative Method

  • As a response to the interpretivist criticism of artificial experiments, positivists have developed the comparative method that tires to remove the 'human element' out of the research yet retains the priniciples of scientific experiments

Durkheim (1897): Suicide

  • Durkheim's study is a famous example of the comparative method in action
  • Durkheim hypothesised that low levels of social integration was casually linked to suicide rates

Advantages

Disadvantages

Avoids artificiality

Historical references

Lessens ethical problems with such research

Eliminates the Hawthorne Effect

Value-free

Reliable

Cannot control variables

Invalidity

Difficult to pinpoint casual variables

Statistics still need to be 'Interpreted'

Artificial/Laboratory Experiments

  • Scientific Method preferred by positivists
  • Allows a researcher to test a hypothesis by looking for casual relationships between 'variables'
  • Aim to uncover predictable, formulaic laws of human behaviour
  • Conducted in an artificial environment so that all variables can be controlled
  • They follow the HYPOTHERTICO-DEDUCTIVE METHOD

The Hypothetico-Deductive Method

  • positivists claim that, by following this method all researchers are able to create truly Value-Free, Scientific Research.
  • a phenomena is observed
  • a hypothesis is formulated
  • an experiment is set up to test the hypothesis
  • effects or variable changes are observed and noted
  • conclusion are drawn
  • hypothesis is accepted or rejected
  • a theory is formuated
    other researchers scrutinise the theory

Always has to be a control group & experiment group so that comparison can be made and variable tested

Advantages

Disadvantages

quantitive data

high in reliability

allows for correlations in the data to be made easily

uncovers formulaic laws of human behaviour

cannot control all the variables when dealing with society and individuals

volunteer bias

small scale

experiment bias