Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology Online

Extract

An experiment is a research method for which the investigator plans, builds, or otherwise controls the conditions under which phenomena are observed and measured. Experiments are the investigative method of choice in the physical sciences, and increasingly in economics, but they are used less frequently in sociology. Experimental sociologists are disproportionately located in the research subfields of (small) group processes and social psychology.There are two interdependent reasons why sociologists rarely use experiments. First, very few sociology training programs include courses or course materials that focus on the experiment as an investigative technique. As a result, researchers unfamiliar with experiments turn to commonly used research techniques to study problems even if they are better studied experimentally. In turn, low demand for information about experimental methods contributes to the scarcity of systematic training. Second, limited information about experimental methods combines with unresolved debates within sociology to reduce further the numbers of sociologists willing to design experimental investigations. Unresolved issues include (1) the possibilities and uses of abstract explanatory theory in sociology, (2) the unique character of social phenomena, (3) the suitability of physical science techniques for sociological research, and (4) the artificiality of experiments.Many ... log in or subscribe to read full text