Experimental Research

There are several techniques used in Experimental Research and are broken down into several methods of research used in psychology. These research methods are Naturalistic Observation, Correlational Method, Experimental Method, Clinical Method and Survey Method.

The Experimental Method is used to give the researcher more control over the experiment. This is the most scientific method of research because the researcher is able to deliberately manipulate the IV (independent variable) while controlling the CV (confounding variables), making the outcome of the experiment, the DV (dependent variable), more accurate. The manipulation of the IV indicates a cause and effect relationship between the IV and the DV. The controlled conditions of the laboratory environment make it easy for the experiment to be replicated if further research is required. Also, technical equipment can be used to make the experiment more accurate. Another advantage of this method is that it can be easily structured to provide quantitative data. However, laboratory experiments do not provide total control over all variables. Another disadvantage is that the conditions of the laboratory are artificial, basically they do not generalise to the characteristics of a real-life situation.

The experiment: Will a high protein diet have an effect on the endurance on bicycle riding in the age group of 30 to 40 years men and women? There will be 10 randomly chosen men and 10 women in the specified