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Types of Experiment - Coggle Diagram
Types of Experiment
Field
Carried out in a real world setting. Experimenter STILL deliberately manipulates the IV in order to record its effect on the DV - participants are in a natural experiment.
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(-) Low Control Over Extraneous Variables: Cannot be confident that the IV affects the DV - decreases internal validity.
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(-) Unethical: Uses 'passers by' who do not they are part of a study - no informed consent and no right to withdraw.
Natural
A type of experiment where the IV and the DV occur naturally and the researcher simply measures the DV.
(+) High Ecological Validity: IV and DV naturally occur so behaviour being investigated is all natural - increases ecological validity
(+) Reduction of Demand Characteristics: Unaware they are taking part in a study so they're unlikely to show demand characteristics - increases internal validity.
(+) Ethical method for Socially Sensitive research: Unethical to manipulate variables - provide insight into topics that could not be in any other way.
(-) Low Control over EV: not controlled so not possible to control EVs - increases internal validity
(-) Difficult to Replicate: Low control over EVs so the exact replication is more difficult than with a lab experiment - very difficult to test external reliability.
Lab
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(+) Control over EV/establish cause and effect: Confident that the IV is affecting the DV and can therefore establish cause and effect - internal validity.
(+) Replicability: High degree of control and uses standardised procedures - allows the exact study to be repeated by other researchers - high external validity.
(-) Demand Characteristics and Investigator Effects: controlled environment so easy to guess the aim of the study and change their behaviour - decrease internal validity.
(-) Low Ecological Validity: Low mundane realism - may not reflect how participants would behave outside the research.
Quasi
A type of experiment where the IV is naturally occurring but the research manipulates the task that participants are required to complete.
(+) Control over extraneous variables: controlled conditions and the researcher manipulates the task that participants undertake. Confident that the IV is affecting the DV.
(+) Replicability: Conducted in highly controlled conditions with standardised procedures and are therefore replicable - high external validity.
(-) Potentially reduced ecological validity: task is manipulated by the researcher - low mundane realism - reduced ecological validity.
(-) Lower control over extraneous variables than a lab experiment: Does not manipulate the IV they cannot be certain that the IV is causing the DV or if confounding variables are contributing - reduces internal validity.