All sociological researchers make use of the data collected to test their hypotheses, but the way and methods used differ from one sociological study to another. There are four general techniques, the case study, the experiment, the observational study and the survey. An experiment is a scientific method in which data are collected to be tested to prove a hypothesis using either independent variables in a closed environment or dependent variables in an opened environment.
There are two types of experiment, the laboratory experiment that is as its name suggests conducted in laboratory and the field experiment conducted in a natural environment. The advocates of positivism support the use of experiment due to its many advantages. Karl Popper for example, believed that the experimental method is extremely useful because it allows the sort of precision in the making and repeated testing of predictions that he advocates. Due to its accuracy in producing scientific results, researchers can be more confident since their theories can be tested scientifically.
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