An experiment in psychology is the main method of scientific knowledge. With its help, changes in the behavior of a person (or a group of persons) in a situation of systematic management of those factors that determine it are investigated. To achieve the goal, the researcher needs to create specific conditions for their appearance.
An essential feature of the experiment is a clear and rigid selection of the specific factor under study. A prerequisite is the registration of emerging changes.
But in psychology, of course, it is impossible to achieve absolute isolation. That is why the selection of the factor is carried out only by selection, as well as by comparison and study of two groups of respondents, two situations and other things.
Types of Experiments
Several parameters can be distinguished on the basis of which different types of this psychological and pedagogical method are distinguished.
Firstly, the natural and laboratory experiment is distinguished by the form of organization. The second type is usually carried out in artificial conditions, which are designed to ensure exceptional purity of the results.
A natural experiment is carried out, as a rule, in ordinary conditions standard for the subject. A significant drawback is the mandatory presence of uncontrolled factors. But their influence cannot be established, nor is it quantified.
Secondly, a formative and ascertaining experiment stands out for its goals. Let's try to understand the main nuances of their separation.
A stating experiment is a psychological method that establishes the presence of a specific and obligatory phenomenon or fact. But to achieve this goal, he must meet certain requirements. So, an experiment can become ascertaining only if the researcher is faced with the task of identifying the existing state, as well as the level of formation of a certain property, or of the factor under study. Therefore, the priority level for the study is the current level in the development of the selected parameter of the respondent, or the group of subjects. This is what determines the purpose and objectives of this method. The ascertaining experiment has the following purpose: measuring the current level of development, as well as obtaining initial material for organizing further research forming the experiment.
This method is also called teaching and transforming, which aims at the active formation of certain parameters in the human mental development, activity levels and so on. Formative experiment is usually used in the study of certain ways of personality development. This is ensured by a complex of sciences. So, for example, when raising a child, a synthesis of psychological knowledge with pedagogical searches will be necessary.
The purpose of the formative experiment is: training in knowledge and skills; development of skills and certain personality traits.
But in order for it to have a positive result, specific requirements will be imposed on the experimenter and the method itself:
- Theoretical elaboration of ideas about the psychological parameters highlighted in the study, which, in fact, will be formed, is necessary.
- The course and program of the experiment should be clearly planned.
- In the process of work, a full account of the available factors in real learning is required, which affect the formation of the phenomena studied in the psyche.
The scientist must be able to choose the method that he needs in accordance with the objectives of the study : a stating experiment, a laboratory one, a formative one, or a natural one.