1. Unit 1 Research Methods (can be examined in Unit 1&2)
Experimental Methods
Unit 1 Research Methods (can be examined in Unit 1&2)

2. Psychology is the study of the mind and behaviour…
Psychology is the study of the mind and behaviour…. How do we find things out?
Experiment
Ask people – interview or questionnaire
Case Study
Watch people!
Look for patterns - correlations

3. Qualitative or Quantitative data?
Things to consider:
Cost?
Time taken?
Qualitative or Quantitative data?
Sample size?

4. There are 3 types of experiment
Laboratory Experiments
Field Experiments
Natural Experiments
There are 3 types of experiment

5. Laboratory Experiment
Field Experiment
Natural Experiment
An experiment that is carried out in an unnatural, controlled environment
An experiment that is carried out in a naturally occurring environment.
Research that is carried out into the effect that changes in the IV has on the DV, but in which it is nature or other factors outside the control of the researchers that assigns people to the conditions of the IV, such as their age or gender.
Advantage:
Disadvantage:

6. Example Experiment: What type of experiment is this?
= Field Experiment

7. Example Experiment:
Leonard Bickman (1974) used 3 male actors dressed in normal clothes, milkman uniform or security guard uniform
He asked the actors to give commands to passers-by, such as picking up litter off the floor, or giving money to someone whose parking meter had run out.
What type of experiment is this?
= Field Experiment

8. Example Experiment:
Jill Hodges and Barbara Tizard (1989) followed the development of 65 children who were in care from just a few month old. They wanted to find out how their different upbringings from aged 4 influenced their ability to form relationships later in life. At aged 4, some children were adopted, some went back to their original parents and some stayed in care homes What kind of experiment is this? = Natural Experiment

9. Example Experiment:
Watch the video of Milgram’s experiment on obedience
What types of experiment was this?
= Laboratory Experiment

10. Laboratory Experiment
Field Experiment
Natural Experiment
An experiment that is carried out in an unnatural, controlled environment
An experiment that is carried out in a naturally occurring environment.
Research that is carried out into the effect that changes in the IV has on the DV, but in which it is nature or other factors outside the control of the researchers that assigns people to the conditions of the IV, such as their age or gender.
Advantage:
Disadvantage:

11. Laboratory Experiment
Field Experiment
Natural Experiment
An experiment that is carried out in an unnatural, controlled environment
An experiment that is carried out in a naturally occurring environment.
Research that is carried out into the effect that changes in the IV has on the DV, but in which it is nature or other factors outside the control of the researchers that assigns people to the conditions of the IV, such as their age or gender.
Advantage:
Easy to control extraneous variables
Easier to use standardised procedures which leads to more valid results
Participants behave more naturally because they don’t realise they are being studied and they are in a more natural environment (high ecological validity)
Easy to follow standardised procedures leading to more valid results
High validity because rea-life setting
Ethically sound when it would be wrong to manipulate the IV (i.e. stress)
Disadvantage:
Participants may not behave naturally, leading to less valid results (lacks ecological validity)
Participants know they are being tested so they may behave differently to how they would in real life.
Harder to control extraneous variables
Less ethical as people cannot give informed consent
Sometimes the natural event might not happen very often, e.g. the effect of hurricanes on stress levels
Researcher can’t control participants as much – may act as an EV
No random allocation of participants