Social Sciences
Experiments
Experiments in social sciences involve controlled investigations to test hypotheses and understand cause-and-effect relationships. Researchers manipulate variables to observe their impact on human behavior, attitudes, or social phenomena. By using experiments, social scientists can gather empirical evidence and draw conclusions about the factors influencing individuals and societies.
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10 Key excerpts on "Experiments"
eBook - PDF- Dov M. Gabbay, Paul Thagard, John Woods(Authors)
- 2007(Publication Date)
- North Holland(Publisher)
When the data are not collected under controlled conditions or are not from repeatable Experiments, then the relationship between the data and the theoretical laws is likely to be neither direct nor clear-cut. This problem was not (. . . ) unique to economics; it arose in other social sciences and in natural sciences where controlled Experiments were not possible” [Morgan, 1990, 9]. 14 On the central factors of science, cf. [Gonzalez, 2005, especially 10–11]. 15 “In Experiments we actively interfere with the material world. In one way or another, exper-imentation involves the material realization of an experimental process (the object[s] of study, the apparatus, and their interaction)” [Radder, 2003b, 4]. 279 The Role of Experiments in the Social Sciences: The Case of Economics Among the components of the traditional view on experiment are also several elements related to a given situation, commonly related to a material setting. i) An experiment is an intervention in the world, thus it includes a manipulation of some aspects of reality to identify certain causal mechanisms or to test a theory about those phenomena. ii) Experiments are thought of a way of grasping certain relatively enduring structures of the world (some mechanism which acts in a char-acteristic manner when there are specific circumstances). iii) The experiment is an active interference in order to enable or trigger the mechanism which is under investigation, and it could also be used to prevent any countervailing mechanism (cf. [Lawson, 1997, 202–203]). In this regard, the critics of Experiments in the social sciences claim that all of them — and specifically economics — are not in a position to isolate, control and manipulate social (in this case, economic) conditions.
eBook - PDFSocial Science Experiments
A Hands-on Introduction
- Donald P. Green(Author)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
4 A Tour of Social Science Experiments In Chapter 2, we defined Experiments as research studies in which subjects are assigned at random to treatment or control conditions. Chapter 3 set the mechanics of random assignment in motion via a humble product-testing experiment. That exercise was meant to solidify your understanding of how to design and deploy an experimental intervention, create a database, and estimate the average effect of the treatment on outcomes. The next step is to apply the experimental method to the study of social phenomena. Before trying your hand at a social experiment, first get a sense of how social scientists have used Experiments to learn about cause and effect. Although these experi- ments all share a common ingredient, random assignment, they vary widely in their substantive focus. One aim of this chapter is to call readers’ attention to the breadth of topics that lend themselves to experimental investigation. Another aim of this chapter is to illustrate the design choices that researchers make when balancing their eagerness to learn against practical and ethical constraints. Some researchers opt for laboratory studies conducted under tightly controlled conditions; others opt for Experiments conducted in naturalistic settings, perhaps with some loss of control over whether subjects take the treatment they are assigned. As we will see, what an experiment can teach us depends on its design. Special attention must be paid to four aspects of an experimental research design: Who the subjects are, what interventions they are exposed to, the context in which the intervention takes place, and the way in which outcomes are measured (see Box 4.1). An important skill is to be able to read a research study and succinctly describe these four design elements, each of which has implications for what the experiment can teach us. This chapter begins with a brief overview of the four main types of Experiments.
- William Outhwaite, Stephen Turner, William Outhwaite, Stephen Turner(Authors)
- 2007(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications Ltd(Publisher)
Theory building is the goal of sociology; the empirical methods used are means to that end. The investigations sometimes termed ‘experimental sociology’ would better be labeled ‘theoretical sociology’. The goal is theory creation and development, not the running of Experiments. In this chapter we investigate the links between theory and Experiments in the con-text of the social sciences. The most general question is how Experiments can be useful in improving knowledge of social structures and social processes. We also address oppo-sition to experimentation—not to decry it as a form of prejudice, but rather to show its sources in different overarching worldviews that different social scientists have adopted, not always consciously or deliberately. Following that, we outline design elements and show their links to theory development, 10 Theory and Experimentation in the Social Sciences M u r r a y W e b s t e r, J r. a n d J a n e S e l l and illustrate those points with an analysis of a sensitive experiment in sociology. We begin with a definition of ‘experiment’ as we understand the term. What Experiments are and How They are Useful In the social sciences, Experiments are social situations deliberately created for the pur-pose of better understanding some aspects of social structures and social processes. An experiment is a research design in which an investigator controls the level of independent variables before measuring the level of depen-dent variables. The time ordering is what makes an experiment. In other methods—sur-veys, content analyses, structured and unstructured observation—a researcher con-fronts the independent and dependent vari-ables simultaneously. Then ‘control’ of independent and intervening variables is accomplished statistically to assess correla-tions with the dependent variables. This tem-poral ordering is associated, as we will show below, with different meanings of ‘general-ization’.
eBook - PDFResearch Methods
A Tool for Life
- Bernard C. Beins(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
Complications arise in any research project because small details of the research situation often have effects on participants’ behaviors that we don’t anticipate or even recog- nize. Further, because an experimental session involves an interaction between people—an experimenter and a participant—social effects can contribute to changes in behavior. Nonetheless, we try to construct our research design to have maximal reliability and internal validity. We create an experimental approach that others can repeat and obtain the same pattern of results; we also put together a study whose results provide meaningful answers to our questions. CHOOSING A METHODOLOGY: THE PRACTICALITIES OF RESEARCH In psychology, the word experiment has a specific meaning. It refers to a research design in which the investigator actively manipulates and controls variables. Scientists regard experimental methods of research as the gold standard against which we compare other approaches because Experiments let us determine what causes behavior, which can lead to the ultimate scien- tific goal—control. In general, researchers often prefer Experiments over other methods such as surveys, observational studies, or other descriptive and correlational approaches. Experiment—A research project in which the investigator creates initially equivalent groups, systematically manipulates an inde- pendent variable, and compares the groups to see if the independent variable affected the subsequent behavior. 150 CHAPTER SIX It is important to understand the difference between an experiment and other ways of carrying out a research project because in everyday language people often refer to any data collection project as an experiment. In fact, until the middle of the 1900s, psycholo- gists, like other scientists, referred to any research project as an experiment. Since then, however, psychologists have used the term in a specific way.
- Murray Webster, Jane Sell(Authors)
- 2007(Publication Date)
- Academic Press(Publisher)
Locke writes, “Both college students and employees appear to respond similarly to goals, feedback, incentives, participation, and so forth, perhaps because the similarities among these subjects (such as in values) are more crucial than their differences” (1986, p. 6). Thus, despite the prevalence of the claim, the data suggest that many laboratory findings generalize to field settings. 11 X. CONCLUSION I began this chapter with the goal of outlining the philosophical and logical foundations of experimental methods in the social sciences. For those of us engaged in the business of designing and executing Experiments, the advan-tages this method affords in terms of promulgating scientific theory and aiding empirical exploration are unmistakable. However, we are still a small (though growing) segment of practicing social scientists. Critics are decidedly more abundant, and vocal, as they galvanize around issues of random assignment, artificiality, external validity, and experimental utility. In some ways it is hard to conceive that the experimental strategy—the touchstone of scientific inquiry in physics, medicine, biology, chemistry, and so on—was argued to be in critical condition less than a decade ago. In truth, experimental methods in the social sciences serve the same function as they do in other scientific are-nas. Experimentation is the best known way to examine theoretical hypotheses, eliminate alternative explanations, and provide clues to causal inference . In closing, the experimental method is the sine qua non of scientific inquiry, spanning disciplines from particle physics to aerospace exploration and every-thing in between. The ubiquity of the experimental method likely stems from 84 Laboratory Experiments in the Social Sciences 11 It may not be obvious, but the structure of generalization in empirically driven Experiments is the same as in theory-driven Experiments.
eBook - ePub- Murray Webster, Jane Sell(Authors)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Academic Press(Publisher)
Although Experiments are a recognized part of today’s social science research techniques, for many social scientists they are still not well understood. Training in laboratory experimentation is still not part of the graduate training of the majority of social scientists (psychology may be the exception). That is unfortunate for many reasons. Those who might wish to conduct experimental research may not feel confident enough in their skills to approach this method. Social scientists who use other methods, such as survey researchers in sociology, may misunderstand the goals and uses of Experiments. Because every science relies on peer review of research, misunderstandings can slow the accumulation of knowledge; good Experiments may be criticized on inappropriate grounds, and real flaws in an experiment may be overlooked.With the continuing growth and development of experimental methods in social science, it will not be long before understanding Experiments is an important part of every social scientist’s professional skills. We and the other authors in this book hope to contribute to that understanding. For new experimenters, we offer suggestions to improve the quality of their work; for those who read and wish to assess experimental research, we describe techniques and offer guidelines. In these ways, we hope to contribute to the growing quality of experimental research in social science. A poorly designed experiment will either produce no results or, worse, will produce results that are not what an experimenter thinks they are. This book brings together “best practices” by several of today’s outstanding experimental researchers. The chapters can be read as “how to” manuals for developing one’s own Experiments or as sources of criteria to judge and improve the quality of experimental research by practitioners and by the professional audience. All of the chapters contain background to their individual topics that explicitly address common and some uncommon points crucial for understanding this method.Experimental research is one kind of intellectual activity. A good way to approach Experiments, either those one plans to conduct or those conducted by others, is to ask what they contribute to knowledge. What do we know as a result of an experiment or what do we hope to learn from a contemplated experiment? As will be clear in several of the chapters, the central issue in experimental research, as well as in other kinds of research, is how the research can contribute to knowledge of social processes and social structures.
No longer available |Learn moreAn Invitation to Social Research
How It's Done
- Emily Adler, Roger Clark(Authors)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
The literature of psychology, social psychology, education, medical sociology, delinquency and corrections, political sociology, and organizational sociology is replete with reports of laboratory research , much of it conducted in universities using students as par-ticipants. For example, while both kinds of studies use experimental and control groups, a field experiment testing a hypothesis about the effect of gender on job offers might have had matched “ applicants ” of both genders apply for real jobs in real companies, while a laboratory experiment on the same topic might have undergraduate subjects rate hypothetical job applicants. The Bushman and Anderson (2009) study on the desensitizing effects of violent media on helping others described earlier is an example of a laboratory experiment. The sample in this study was composed of groups of students who had volunteered to be part of a research project and participated in a lab on a college campus. Bushman and Anderson (2009) had control over the setting and could easily randomly assign sample members to groups. Although realistic situations can be created in labs and subjects can be kept in the dark about the real purpose of the study, the participants in labo-ratory Experiments know that they are involved in research. If the setting and staging of the experiment, including the way the independent variable is introduced, do not feel real, the study ’ s internal validity will be hampered. For example, Bushman and Anderson (2009: 275) used a pilot or trial study with 50 participants to see if the students found the “ fight ” realistic. Only five of the first 10 students thought it was genuine so they added throwing the chair and kicking the door. The next 40 students reported believing that the fight was real. generalizability, the ability to apply the results of a study to groups or situations beyond those actually studied.
eBook - PDFExperimental Sociology
A Study in Method
- Ernest Greenwood(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Columbia University Press(Publisher)
12 Though not every experiment involves risks to human welfare, the atmosphere of laissez-faire under which most of us have been reared breeds social antagonism toward any attempt to tamper with the more delicate phases of our lives. While the subject of experiment in physical science is inert and in-sensitive matter, in the social field the experimenter is dealing with complex units capable of great suffering if the experiment should go wrong. Hence the popular tendency to question anything which puts into the hands of a person or a group an arbitrary control over the welfare and destiny of other human beings. 13 If individuals themselves freely renounce certain rights and for the benefit of humanity submit to experimentation, society does not feel obliged to intervene and might even recognize their sacrifices. But society would certainly condemn 8 Giddings, The Scientific Study of Human Society, p. 56. • Newsletter, Feldstein, Newcomb, op. cit., p. 24. 1 0 Lundbcrg, Social Research: A Study in Methods of Gathering Data , p. 75. 1 1 Angell, The Difficulties of Experimental Sociology. 1 1 Cobb, op. cit. 1 8 Chapin, The Experimental Method and Sociology. 96 SOME C O N T R O L P R O B L E M S an adult who would subject to experimentation a youngster incapable of form-ing decisions for himself. The state can under some circumstances carry out a successful experiment involving human life and safety. Thus there have been instances where governments have asked felons to volunteer for experimental purposes, offering freedom as compensation. 14 But again the basis is voluntary and not compulsory. The state alone, of all human agencies, possesses by common consent the social sanction for mandatory interference with the normal lives of people. Hence the state can engage in considerable experimen-tation. The degree of interference is naturally limited by the values current in the society and governed by public opinion.
eBook - PDF- Roger Wimmer, Joseph Dominick(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
To counteract this problem, researchers can use the double-blind technique , in which nei-ther subjects nor researchers know whether a given subject belongs to the control group or to the experimental group. 3 . Limited scope. Finally, some research questions simply do not lend themselves to the experimental approach. Many of the more interesting research topics in mass media are concerned with the collective behavior of perhaps millions of people. Experiments on this scale are much too mas-sive to conduct. Consider, for example, the cultivation effect (discussed in more detail on this book ’ s website), which involves the long-term impact of television on society. Any experimental design that would “ test ” the cultivation effect would be too time-consuming, expensive, and ethically ques-tionable to take place. Although it is possible to conduct some smaller-scale Experiments on this topic with small groups of subjects, it is unclear how these Experiments relate to the larger-scale phenomenon. Chapter 9 Experimental Research 247 Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. CONDUCTING EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH The experimental method involves both manipulation and observation. In the sim-plest form of an experiment, researchers manipulate the independent variable and then observe the responses of subjects on the dependent variable. Although every experi-ment is different, most researchers agree that the following eight steps should be followed when conducting an experiment: 1 .
eBook - PDFExperimental Thinking
A Primer on Social Science Experiments
- James N. Druckman(Author)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
In Chapter 4, I turn to experimental designs, focusing on three designs that have gained prominence in many social science applications in the last decade: audit field Experiments, conjoint survey Experiments, and lab- in-the-field Experiments. These designs also encompass each conventional type of social science experiment (i.e., field, survey, and lab) (Druckman et al. 2011). The chapter reviews the basics of each design and provides prominent examples. Importantly, it also discusses limitations and chal- lenges of the designs, or put another way, how to think about these new designs. The chapter includes a brief overview of “public policy experi- ments”: It does so given the recent rise in studies of political elites that ultimately connect to policymaking and responsiveness. The chapter makes clear that the substantive questions being explored should drive experimental design choices and not vice versa. Chapter 5 delves into the steps that occur prior to, during, and after an experiment – including arriving at questions to explore by using an experiment; documenting the steps in the process of conducting an experi- ment; and considering whether to replicate one’s findings after an Why a Primer on Social Science Experiments? 13 experiment. This discussion touches on the themes of the aforementioned open science movement, offering in many instances a cautionary perspective. The final chapter (Chapter 6) explains how to design “good” experi- ments. The primary point is that regardless of changes, the fundamentals of conducing a sound experiment remain the same. I offer a list of steps that should be taken for any design. The ultimate goal is to place experi- ments – and recent developments in sampling, designs, and practice – in the larger landscape of the ever-changing social sciences. 14 Experimental Thinking
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