Question

Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the experimental method as a method of enquiry.

Answer 1

The strengths and weaknesses of the experimental method as a method of enquiry are:

Strengths

• It provides relatively convincing evidence of a cause-effect relationship between two or more variables.

• The extraneous variables can be eliminated from the laboratory.

• It can minimise the sequence effect with the help of a counter-balancing technique.

• It eliminates any potential systematic differences between groups by giving a random assignment to groups of participants. This is done to help in framing the conclusion without any assumption.

Weaknesses

• The highly controlled laboratory situation only simulates the conditions of the outer world.

• The results of the experiments cannot be generally applied to real situations, thus field experiments are required in such situations.

• It is not always feasible to study a particular problem experimentally.

• It is difficult to know and control all the relevant variables, particularly in field experiments. Many variables cannot be manipulated in laboratory settings.