Field experiment

The field experiment is in contrast to other experimental type of research, the laboratory experiment.

Definition

The field experiment is, unlike the laboratory experiment, not in a special examination room or laboratory instead, but in the natural environment. In field experiments with human subjects do not know that they are participating in an experiment, so their behavior completely " natural".

In the field experiment, all available control techniques are applied; from the fact of the experimental study in the "field", however, found opportunities to influence the course of the experiment that can not fend off the investigator or straight - eg in the case of transfer of a laboratory -proven facts on the " natural conditions " - wants to study. In particular socio-psychological aspects of the experiment work in the field experiment, although narrow the claim to uncover causal relationships, however, can increase the ecological validity of the experimental finding.

Critical Appraisal

The advantages of the field experiment consist in the high external validity and the realism of the experimental situation. Disadvantages are the lower internal validity due to inadequate control of the process and of the situation by the experimenter, as well as ethical concerns in human trials because they are experimental subjects without their consent.