Field Experiments

Are they reliable?

Although experiments in crime settings are unlikely to be exactly replicable, comparing areas or groups with broadly similar features allows experiments to be repeated in a broadly similar way.

Why do field experiments have limited application?

Because experiments are small-scale and can usually only examine a single aspect of behaviour. Larger issues in crime, such as the relationship between offending and social class, cannot be easily studied using this method.

What is an ethical disadvantage of the researchers findings?

Crime is also a highly politicised issue and the researcher has no control over the political use of research findings.

What are field experiments?

Field experiments take place in the subjects natural environment and the subjects do no know they are involved in an experiment. Variables are still manipulated to see what effect they have. e.g. Rosenthal and Jacobson manipulated teachers expectations by misleading them about pupils abilities.

What advantage does the experiment taking place in a natural environment have?

Increases validity.

Comparative Method:

Not field, another alternative to lab. Carried out in the mind of a sociologist- thought experiment. It identifies two groups that are alike in major respects expect one variable that the researcher is interested in. It then compares them to see if this one difference has any effect. e.g. Durkheim- suicide. - They give the researcher no control over variables + They avoid artificiality, can study past events and avoid ethical problems.

Actor tests and correspondence tests:

Test for discrimination in employment. e.g. Brown and Gay sent a white and black actor for interviews for the same posts, they were matched on many different factors so that any differences in job offers could have been due to discrimination.

Why are field experiments useful for studying crime reduction strategies?

The application of a specific crime reduction strategy to one particular area and not another enables the researcher top achieve a degree of control over the situation and develop an effective field experiment.