Question -
Answer -
The strengths and weaknesses of experimental method as a method of enquiry are:
Strengths
• It provides a 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 counter-balancing technique.
• It eliminates any potential systematic differences between groups by giving 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.