Sociology
Ms. B. Callee
Experiment
Experiments are in many ways a neglected method in sociology but they are a vital way of
studying social behaviour. Experiment are the closest we can get in sociology to the methods
of the natural sciences. They are usually a positivists method producing quantitative data and
are often used to find cause and effect relationships or correlations.
There are two types of experiment in which people are asked to participate: Laboratory
experiment and field experiment.
Laboratory experiment are usually conducted in closed rooms, cut off from outside factors
such as noise or passers-by.
Field experiments usually take place in everyday surroundings, such as streets or workplaces.
Laboratory experiment
A laboratory experiment is a setting and a situation that is designed to test a hypothesis (a
hypothesis is an idea which a researcher guesses might be true, but which has not yet been
tested against the evidence) in laboratory conditions in which all variables or cases are under
the control of the researcher.
What is a variable?
It is a factor that is likely to change. They are things that can vary such as social class,
gender, ethnicity or temperature, sound and light. In a laboratory experiment, they can be
held constant (kept the same) or manipulated (changed). Experiments are designed to see
whether one variable (the independent variable) has a cause effect on another variable ( the
dependent variable).
What is an independent variable?
It is the variable or factor that the researcher believes causes the change in the dependent
variable.
What is a dependent variable?
It is the effect that the independent variable has on it.
So the independent variable is the cause and the dependent variable is the effect.
For example:
a) poverty [ I.V CAUSE] leads to crime [D.V – EFFECT].
b) Watching violent movies [I.V] on the television makes children become aggressive
[D.V].
Ms. B. Callee
Experiment
Experiments are in many ways a neglected method in sociology but they are a vital way of
studying social behaviour. Experiment are the closest we can get in sociology to the methods
of the natural sciences. They are usually a positivists method producing quantitative data and
are often used to find cause and effect relationships or correlations.
There are two types of experiment in which people are asked to participate: Laboratory
experiment and field experiment.
Laboratory experiment are usually conducted in closed rooms, cut off from outside factors
such as noise or passers-by.
Field experiments usually take place in everyday surroundings, such as streets or workplaces.
Laboratory experiment
A laboratory experiment is a setting and a situation that is designed to test a hypothesis (a
hypothesis is an idea which a researcher guesses might be true, but which has not yet been
tested against the evidence) in laboratory conditions in which all variables or cases are under
the control of the researcher.
What is a variable?
It is a factor that is likely to change. They are things that can vary such as social class,
gender, ethnicity or temperature, sound and light. In a laboratory experiment, they can be
held constant (kept the same) or manipulated (changed). Experiments are designed to see
whether one variable (the independent variable) has a cause effect on another variable ( the
dependent variable).
What is an independent variable?
It is the variable or factor that the researcher believes causes the change in the dependent
variable.
What is a dependent variable?
It is the effect that the independent variable has on it.
So the independent variable is the cause and the dependent variable is the effect.
For example:
a) poverty [ I.V CAUSE] leads to crime [D.V – EFFECT].
b) Watching violent movies [I.V] on the television makes children become aggressive
[D.V].
