In research, there are multiple methods to find out the best way to describe our reality . Experimental research is the most popular method, thanks to its high control over the variables and its ability to establish cause and effect relationships.

There are many disciplines in which this method is used, being fundamental in sciences such as psychology, sociology, chemistry and pharmacy, among others.

In this article we will see the advantages and disadvantages of this method , describing some examples applied in various disciplines.

Advantages of experimental research

We have summarised the advantages of experimental research below.

1. Control of variables

This method makes it possible to isolate the variables that one wishes to study and modify them according to the objective of the study . You can also combine variables to study how they interact with each other.

Thanks to this, experimental research allows the highest degree of control of the variables.

2. Identification of the cause-effect relationship

By studying the variables in isolation, the direct relationship between an action incorporated by the researcher and the results obtained can be easily established.

3. No study limits

Any subject can be approached by means of the experimental method , we only need to know how to introduce it into the experimental design and extract the variables to be analysed.

4. Results can be duplicated

By having control over the variables and the context in which the experiment is carried out, it can be replicated and repeated as many times as desired .

In addition, another research group can perform the same experiment following the guidelines of the original researcher and duplicate their results.

5. Can be combined with other research methods

To ensure that the results obtained are reliable , it is beneficial to combine experimental research with other methods.

By doing this, you can compare the results of the investigations and see if there are any striking discrepancies.

  • You may be interested in: “The 15 types of research (and characteristics)”

Disadvantages

Despite all the advantages we have seen in the previous points, experimental research can also have some drawbacks and weaknesses .

1. Non-operable aspects

Love, happiness and other abstract ideas are difficult to study . That is, unlike variables such as length, height, temperature and so on, emotions, to give an example, cannot be measured precisely.

2. Artificial situations

In the laboratory, situations are created according to the objective to be investigated. These situations are very controlled and can hardly represent a real situation .

Due to this artificiality, it may be the case that variables that in nature always occur together are excluded.

3. Human error

Human beings are imperfect and, although experimentation is rigorous, it may be the case that the experimenter himself makes a mistake when measuring the variables .

Although human error does not have to be a very serious event, in the most serious cases it can mean having to invalidate all the results and it becomes necessary to repeat the study.

4. The environment influences the participants

If the laboratory or any other place where the study is carried out has any distracting factor or that may alter the participant’s state of mind, their responses will be affected.

5. Manipulation of variables may not be objective

It is possible that, either due to a bias of the researcher or intentionally, the results are manipulated and interpreted in a way that confirms the hypotheses to be verified in the study.

6. It can take a long time

Scientific research requires many steps . First the object of study has to be chosen, then its variables have to be found, then an experimental design has to be elaborated and there are still a few more steps to be taken.

Going through all these phases takes a lot of time. In addition, it may be the case that, once the experiment has started, faults are detected that need to be corrected and data collection paused.

Obtaining participants for the sample is a long process and does not guarantee that they will finally perform the experiment.

7. Ethical issues

Throughout history there have been cases of experiments that have generated controversy because they have bordered on violations of ethics .

To give one example, Nazi doctors experimented on concentration camp prisoners in an inhuman and cruel way, having no qualms about torturing and killing them.

Another ethical aspect to be taken into account is animal experimentation. Many environmentalists and animal rights advocates are totally opposed to the use of animals for scientific purposes, even though this may involve saving human lives as is the case with pharmaceutical research.

8. The research does not provide a real explanation

On many occasions, experimental research aims to answer questions related to very specific aspects . As no real situation is being studied, neither can a precise explanation be obtained as to why certain phenomena occur in nature.

It is good to know what influences a given variable in isolation, since it facilitates prediction, however, in nature that same variable is not given separately from the rest.

9. Foreign variables cannot always be controlled

Although one of the main advantages of experimental research is to achieve greater control of extraneous variables, this does not mean that they cannot be overlooked.

10. Sample may not be representative

Although it is a rare phenomenon, the truth is that the participants may present significantly different characteristics compared to the population where they have been extracted.

For example, let’s imagine that we want to study the degree to which young women are obsessed with thinness. We decide that our sample will be between 18 and 25 years old and we recruit them in our own city.

Predictably, you will find women with various concerns: some will be very concerned about their weight while others will consider it not a key aspect of their lives.

In our research, we had a sample composed mostly of women with obesity, a factor that clearly raises health concerns about weight

11. Groups may not be comparable

If the study compares two or more groups, they may not be comparable for different reasons .

Let’s take the following example: Let’s imagine we want to study how sports performance is influenced by the gender variable. We manage to recruit 30 men and 30 women and put them all through the same physical tests.

It turns out that all of these people were already playing sports before participating in the study, with most of the women doing contemporary dance and most of the men playing soccer.

When we analyze the results of the physical tests, we see that men have more resistance and strength while women have higher levels of coordination and flexibility.

Based on this, we do not know if it has been the type of sport or the gender variable that has influenced the qualitative differences in sports performance.

Bibliographic references:

  • Neuman, W. L., and Neuman, W. L. (2006). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches.
  • Punch, K. F. (2013). Introduction to social research: Quantitative and qualitative approaches. Sage