Although laboratory experiments are pretty useful, they have numerous limitations which do not make it a very appropriate and accurate research method. One of the limitations of laboratory experiment is that participants’ behavior might be artificial and not valid to real life situations as it is being studied in a contrived situation. Participants/subject may tend to adopt roles or adjust their behavior because they do not passively respond to psychological stimuli but react to the situation in number of active ways; this limits the accuracy of the results as the participants’ behavior is adopted and adjusted/manipulated.
Laboratory experiments depend on the extensive use of volunteers, and research proves that volunteers react differently to non-volunteers, so it might lead to an unusual type of participants being used which can lead to inaccurate results, thus limiting the success of this research method. Also, experiments which use animals experience various problems of interpretation and relevance. A very vital part of psychological investigation that could be a limitation for laboratory experiments is ethical problem because laboratory experiments tend to be potentially burdened and weighted down.
Another vital part of the experimental method includes field experiment. Field experiment is where the research is performed in the natural environment rather than in the controlled circumstances of a laboratory. Field experiments generally randomize subjects or sampling units into treatment and control groups and compare outcomes between these groups. In this method of research there could be some degree of control but obviously less than the degree of control possible in the laboratory. The researcher modifies/manipulates the IV and then observes its effects on the behavior or attitude in the more natural setting. This research method has an advantage of economy as the experimenter can create conditions of interest and observe the results rather than waiting for them to occur naturally. Field experiments are used to have a higher degree of ecological validity as the investigation takes place within a natural setting, thus results are likely to be relevant and based on real life behavior.
Just like any other research method, field experiments too have some limitations and problems which could be faced when carrying out such an experiment. One of these limitations is that whatever the field experiments gain in ecological validity it would lose it in operational control as it becomes very difficult and complex to control the nature of the people taking part and also harder to obtain the same degree of precision in behavioral measurements as the participants’ behavior can be influenced by the activities taking place in the natural environment. This type of research can also lead to many ethical problems such as invasion of privacy and deception if the participants/subject is unaware that they are part of the investigation/experiment, thus it limits the continuation of the research if such ethical issues arise.
The third and final part of an experimental method is the natural experiment. Natural experiment refers to an investigational situation whereby the independent variable is not manipulated directly by the researcher, but is manipulated by some outside agency. This type of research is used to explore research questions of high natural interest, but where practical realities or ethical concerns prevent the possibility of manipulation by the research psychologist. Natural experiments are used to enable psychologists explore issues of natural interest which have practical implications due to the high degree of ecological validity. This research method is sometimes used extensively as there are fewer ethical problems (but some do present) due to lack of researcher manipulation.
Criticisms which limit the success and accuracy of natural experiments include the fact that because investigators have very little or no control over the variables under experiment, queries of cause and effect become increasingly tentative. This means that due to no control over variables, experimenters find it very difficult to achieve precise and accurate outcomes from the experiment. Also, it becomes really very difficult to replicate the conditions/circumstances of the natural experiments as the participants’ behavior may be influenced by many variables which the experimenter has no control over or no knowledge of. Similar to field experiments, natural experiments as well suffer from some ethical problems like deception and invasion of privacy if the participants/subject are unaware of their participation in the investigation/research.
This article mainly outlined the various techniques of investigation and research present in the experimental method of psychology to test/investigate theories and hypotheses to generate accurate and precise outcomes/results. The article also lists out various limitations and criticisms of these experimental methods which constrain the success of the researches and influence or affect the outcomes/findings of the investigation.
Done By:
Priyank Punatar
IB – 1
Psychology HL