Strengths -must state what and explain how (2-3 examples)
Reliability
A strength of the study is that it is high in reliability which means the
consistency of a measure is the same after multiple attempts. The study is
conducted in lab that follows a standardized procedure For example:
receiving prods every time a participant hesitated to administer shocks to
Mr. Wallace the stooge, during the drawing of lots to be teacher
(participants) or learner (Mr. Wallace), all participants got 10 word pairs,
everybody received products such as “please continue” when they hesitated
to answer and finally the 45 volt test shock all participants started with. In
conclusion having many controls in an experiment helps reduce extraneous
variables hence increasing reliability of the results allowing for experiment to
be replicated.
(NO IV (independent variable) IN MILGRAM: so, cannot use Validity as a point
for strength
Application to real life
A strength is application to real life; this means that study can be used to
understand human beings in everyday life situations. For example, could be
used in classrooms so students are more attentive to teachers, this could be
done by teachers dressing more formal in suits rather than casually where in
order to make children more obedient additionally, can be used in court to
make criminal more likely to tell the truth, by making authority figure
present in formal clothes so criminal is intimated. In conclusion this study
can help us understand why people change behavior in social contexts.
Tip for above: for application to real life is it better to give 2 application
examples and explanation
If doing application to real life, the conclusion should relate to the approach for
specific study. E.g. social approach (highlighted in blue above).
Weaknesses
Ecological validity
A weakness of the study is that it has low ecological validity means the tasks
and setting are nothing like real life situations. For example, the set up was