SOC221H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Interrupted Time Series, Random Assignment, Natural Experiment
Document Summary
Experiment- is when you modify something in a situation and then compare an outcome to what existed without the modification. Easiest method for meeting the three conditions of causality: temporal order, association, no alternative explanations. Easier to design field and natural experiment because it allows external validity. The questions appropriate for using an experimental logic confront ethical and practical limitations of intervening human affairs for research purposes. It is immoral for an experimenter to manipulate a part of social life and then examine the consequences that result from the change or intervention. The experiment is usually best for issues that small scope or scale. This strength allows them to run the experiment with limited resources in a short period of time. The experiment also limits one"s ability to generalize the findings to a larger setting. It can only measure the effects of a handful of variables at one time.
