ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF EXPERIMENTS

ADVANTAGES

§  The control of EVs in an experiment means it is easier to identify the cause and the effect. This means the experimenter can be more certain that it was the IV that affected the DV.

§  Experiments are controlled and standardized so they can be replicated by other researchers.

§  Experiments are objective because the procedures are set up in such a way that biases from the researcher are not present.

DISADVANTAGES

§  The settings for experiments can be very artificial. The tasks can be unrealistic. There can be a lack of ecological validity. It is possible to overcome this by using more natural settings for experiments.

§  Participants usually know they are in an experiment and this could affect the behavior they produce. The results could be untrue and misleading because the behavior was not normal.