Understanding Experimental Designs: Lab, Field, and Survey Methods

Jackson and Cox's Three Experimental Designs

Jackson and Cox describe three primary types of experimental designs:

Lab Experiments

Lab experiments are designed to manipulate both the social networks within which exchanges will be undertaken, as well as the form of social exchange.

Strengths:

• Manipulation of independent variables indicates cause-and-effect relationships.
• Increased control and accurate measurement.
• Standardized procedures allow for replication.

Weaknesses:

• Total control over all variables is not possible.
• Artificial conditions may produce unnatural behavior that lacks ecological validity.
• Results are likely to be biased by sampling, demand characteristics, and experimenter expectancy.
• May raise ethical concerns, such as deception.

Field Experiments

A field experiment takes place anywhere in a natural setting; it could be in a school, hospital, on the street, or in an office. Note: A field experiment is an experiment where the independent variable is manipulated. Not all field studies are experiments.

Strengths:

• People may behave more naturally than in laboratory settings, leading to higher realism.
• Easier to generalize from results due to natural settings.

Weaknesses:

• Often only weak control of extraneous variables, making replication difficult.
• Can be time-consuming and costly.

Survey Experiments

A survey is a way of getting information about a specific type of behavior, experience, or event. When using this method, researchers give people questionnaires or interview them to obtain information. When subjects fill out surveys about themselves, the data is called self-report data. Self-report data can be misleading because subjects may do any of the following:

• Lie intentionally.
• Give answers based on wishful thinking rather than the truth.
• Fail to understand the questions the survey asks.
• Forget parts of the experience they need to describe.

This is also known as the population-based survey experiment.

External Validity:

• Ability to generalize findings from a representative sample to the broader population.
• Conducted in a "natural" setting.

Weaknesses (Internal Validity):

• Difficulty in identifying clear cause-and-effect relationships (e.g., spurious and reciprocal relationships).
• Potential for superficial responses.