A-LEVEL SOCIOLOGY:
RESEARCH METHODS
● P1 - 11: Experiments
● P12 - 22: Interviews
● P23 - 34: Observations
● P35 - 44: Secondary Sources (Official Statistics, Documents)
, Experiments
*experiments are rarely used in Sociology
Laboratory experiments
- Experimental method uses 2 groups:
1. The experimental group: independent variable
2. The control group: control variable
● The scientist manipulates the variables in which they are interested, in order to discover what effect they have.
By following this method, the scientist can establish a cause-and-effect relationship. This will allow them to
predict accurately what will happen in the future under specified conditions
Reliability + Once an experiment has been conducted, other scientists can then replicate it with every detail. This means it
is highly reliable:
● The original experimenter can specify precisely what steps were followed in the original experiment so
other researchers can repeat these in the future
● It is a very detached method as the researcher merely manipulates the variables and records the
results - the scientist’s personal feelings/opinions have no result on the conduct or outcome of the
experiment
+ Positivists favour the method since they favour a scientific approach + achieves main goals
Practical - Society is a very complex phenomenon → it would be impossible to identify and control variables
Problems - Lab experiments cannot be used to study the past - it is impossible to control variables that were acting in the
past
- Only study small scale samples → difficult to investigate large-scale social phenomena such as religion/voting
patterns + reduces their representativeness
Ethical - Lack of informed consent - this may difficult to obtain from groups such as children who may be unable to
problems understand the nature and purpose of the experiment
1
, - Deception - generally considered wrong to mislead people as to the nature of the experiment
● Milgram (1974): famous study of obedience to authority - he lied to his participants and told them they
were assisting in an experiment on learning, where they had to administer electric shocks when the
learner failed to answer questions correctly, but in reality the purpose of the experiment was to test
people’s willingness to obey orders to inflict pain
- Harm - the experiment may also harm the participants eg in Milgram’s experiments, many research
participants were observed to “sweat, stutter, tremble, seizures”
+ Supporters of Milgram argue that his experiments can be ethically justified because they alert us to the
dangers of blindly obeying authority figures
Hawthorne - A laboratory is not a normal or natural environment so behaviour in these conditions is likely to be unnatural or
effect artificial → decreases validity
- Hawthorne effect; if people know they are being studied, they may behave differently - e.g. by trying to
second-guess what the researcher wants them to do and acting accordingly. This will ruin the experiment,
which depends on the subjects responding to the variables that the researcher introduced to the situation, not
to the fact that they are being observed. This effect was found in Mayo’s (1927) research into worker’s
productivity that found that regardless of worsened conditions productivity still increased as they knew they
were being studied and wished to please the experimenter
- Interpretivists reject the method because it fails to achieve their main goal of validity
Free will - Interpretivist sociologists argue that humans have free will, consciousness and choice so our behaviour
cannot be explained in terms of cause and effect. Instead, it can only be understood in terms of the choices
we freely make
Field experiments
- A field experiment is different to a laboratory experiment:
1. It takes place in the subjects natural surroundings rather than in an artificial laboratory experiment
2. Those involved are generally not aware that they are the subjects of an experiment → no Hawthorne effect
- The researcher manipulates one or more of the variables in the situation to see what effect it has on the unwitting subjects of
the experiment
● Rosenhan’s (1973) ‘pseudopatient’ experiment: researchers presented themselves at mental hospitals saying they had
symptoms of schizophrenia and were diagnosed with it. They stopped complaining of hearing voices in hospital but
2
RESEARCH METHODS
● P1 - 11: Experiments
● P12 - 22: Interviews
● P23 - 34: Observations
● P35 - 44: Secondary Sources (Official Statistics, Documents)
, Experiments
*experiments are rarely used in Sociology
Laboratory experiments
- Experimental method uses 2 groups:
1. The experimental group: independent variable
2. The control group: control variable
● The scientist manipulates the variables in which they are interested, in order to discover what effect they have.
By following this method, the scientist can establish a cause-and-effect relationship. This will allow them to
predict accurately what will happen in the future under specified conditions
Reliability + Once an experiment has been conducted, other scientists can then replicate it with every detail. This means it
is highly reliable:
● The original experimenter can specify precisely what steps were followed in the original experiment so
other researchers can repeat these in the future
● It is a very detached method as the researcher merely manipulates the variables and records the
results - the scientist’s personal feelings/opinions have no result on the conduct or outcome of the
experiment
+ Positivists favour the method since they favour a scientific approach + achieves main goals
Practical - Society is a very complex phenomenon → it would be impossible to identify and control variables
Problems - Lab experiments cannot be used to study the past - it is impossible to control variables that were acting in the
past
- Only study small scale samples → difficult to investigate large-scale social phenomena such as religion/voting
patterns + reduces their representativeness
Ethical - Lack of informed consent - this may difficult to obtain from groups such as children who may be unable to
problems understand the nature and purpose of the experiment
1
, - Deception - generally considered wrong to mislead people as to the nature of the experiment
● Milgram (1974): famous study of obedience to authority - he lied to his participants and told them they
were assisting in an experiment on learning, where they had to administer electric shocks when the
learner failed to answer questions correctly, but in reality the purpose of the experiment was to test
people’s willingness to obey orders to inflict pain
- Harm - the experiment may also harm the participants eg in Milgram’s experiments, many research
participants were observed to “sweat, stutter, tremble, seizures”
+ Supporters of Milgram argue that his experiments can be ethically justified because they alert us to the
dangers of blindly obeying authority figures
Hawthorne - A laboratory is not a normal or natural environment so behaviour in these conditions is likely to be unnatural or
effect artificial → decreases validity
- Hawthorne effect; if people know they are being studied, they may behave differently - e.g. by trying to
second-guess what the researcher wants them to do and acting accordingly. This will ruin the experiment,
which depends on the subjects responding to the variables that the researcher introduced to the situation, not
to the fact that they are being observed. This effect was found in Mayo’s (1927) research into worker’s
productivity that found that regardless of worsened conditions productivity still increased as they knew they
were being studied and wished to please the experimenter
- Interpretivists reject the method because it fails to achieve their main goal of validity
Free will - Interpretivist sociologists argue that humans have free will, consciousness and choice so our behaviour
cannot be explained in terms of cause and effect. Instead, it can only be understood in terms of the choices
we freely make
Field experiments
- A field experiment is different to a laboratory experiment:
1. It takes place in the subjects natural surroundings rather than in an artificial laboratory experiment
2. Those involved are generally not aware that they are the subjects of an experiment → no Hawthorne effect
- The researcher manipulates one or more of the variables in the situation to see what effect it has on the unwitting subjects of
the experiment
● Rosenhan’s (1973) ‘pseudopatient’ experiment: researchers presented themselves at mental hospitals saying they had
symptoms of schizophrenia and were diagnosed with it. They stopped complaining of hearing voices in hospital but
2
