E. M. Dun
Experiment as a scientific method
The experimental method of scientific research is the brainchild of modern times. Its formation was a revolutionary milestone in the development of human knowledge, and above all, natural science. Many historians of science rightly believe that it was the systematic application of the experimental method that marked the emergence of experimental science in the modern sense of the word, which replaced ancient speculation and medieval scholasticism.
The founder and propagandist of the experiment as an independent method of scientific research was G. Galileo. Based on the method of physical experiment, he refuted the principles of Aristotelian physics and laid the foundations of classical mechanics, which later received its full development in the works of I. Newton. Having arisen in the depths of physics, the experimental method gradually expanded its scope, finding wide distribution in chemistry, biology, physiology and other natural and technical sciences. In our time, it is increasingly penetrating into social science (economics, sociology, psychology, etc.). In the methodological arsenal of modern science, the most important role is assigned to experiment as the main general scientific method of empirical research.
The concept of a scientific experiment. The unity of subject-practical and
cognitive side of the experiment.
In order to understand the essence of a scientific experiment, its place and role in cognition, it is necessary first of all to have a fairly clear general idea of the structure of scientific knowledge and the stages of the cognition process.
In the modern methodology of science, it is customary to distinguish two main levels of scientific knowledge - empirical and theoretical and, accordingly, two main types of cognitive activity - empirical and theoretical research. These levels are different. subject of research, character means and methods, used in the research process, as well as the nature of the obtained cognitive results.
At the empirical level, the object studied by science is cognized from the side of its external "phenomena" that is, those individual properties and relationships, which are available for direct registration using sense organs cognizing subject and various appliances enhancing their resolution. The main research methods at this level are observation, experiment and measurement. The results of the empirical study have the form scientific facts 1 and empirical dependencies describing recognizable object.
At the theoretical level, the object under study is known by science from the side of its "essence" that is, those domestic laws, that govern its operation and development. The main research tool here is logical thinking, and the main methods are abstraction, idealization, etc. The results of a theoretical study are in the form hypotheses and theories, who are capable explain previously obtained facts and dependencies and predict new facts previously unknown.
Being qualitatively different, the empirical and theoretical levels of cognition are at the same time in relation interconnections and interdependencies. The empirical level of knowledge is the foundation of the theoretical one. Scientific hypotheses and theories are always based on scientific facts obtained in the process of empirical research. On the other hand, empirical knowledge is always based on certain theoretical premises that guide the empirical process and give it systematic character 2 .
After these general introductory remarks, we can proceed directly to the analysis of a scientific experiment.
The term "experiment" comes from the Latin "experimentum", which means "test", "test", "experience".
As we have already noted, the experiment is one of the empirical methods of scientific research, which also include observation and measurement 3 .
Like observation, the experiment implies directly - the sensory interaction of the cognizing subject with the cognized object, the result of which is the disclosure of individual properties and relationships of reality and, on this basis, the establishment of scientific facts and empirical dependencies. At the same time, it has such specific features that fundamentally distinguish it from simple observation (contemplation).
Scientific observation is the study of objects of reality in their natural conditions. This means that in the course of such an investigation, the cognizing subject does not violate the natural "life" of the object, does not affect it and the conditions of its existence, but studies it exactly as it is directly given to our sensory perception. Therefore, this method bears a certain seal passivity subject. Known research activity is reduced only to the search for suitable conditions for observation or the use of devices that enhance the senses of the observer.
An experiment, as opposed to mere observation, is active method scientific research. Emphasizing this fundamental difference, I. P. Pavlov wrote: “... observation collects what nature provides it, while experience (that is, experiment - E. D.) takes from nature what it wants” 4 . The experimenter does not wait until the phenomenon or condition of interest to him is accidentally delivered to him by nature, he calls (reproduces) them himself. An experiment is a study of reality in artificial conditions created by the researcher himself through purposeful and controlled practical impact on the object under study or the conditions of its existence. The nature of these artificial conditions is determined by the task at hand. They should be such that they reveal those properties and connections of the object that are of interest to the researcher.
For example, in order to determine whether a given fertilizer affects the development of a particular plant and how it affects it, we introduce it into the soil, finding out the causal dependence of the growth, development and fruiting of this plant on such an application. Finding out how the current strength in the circuit depends on the resistance of the conductors, we artificially change the value of their resistance. When elucidating the chemical properties of certain substances, we artificially combine the substance under study with other substances, artificially change the conditions under which we combine them (temperature, pressure, catalysts, etc.).
In all these cases, the researcher forcibly compels nature to reveal its secrets, to answer those questions that he asks her. The contemplative of nature thus becomes naturalist 5 .
Emphasizing the active nature of the subject's activity in the process of experimentation, at the same time, this activity should not be absolutized and thereby deny the objective content of the knowledge obtained in the experiment. Interfering in the objective course of an event, creating artificial experimental situations, the researcher does not create the properties and relations of things at his own will, then attributing them to nature. “The interaction of objects in an experimental study can be simultaneously considered in two ways: both as human activity and as part of the interactions of nature itself. Questions to nature are asked by the researcher, answers to them are given by nature itself «6.
It follows from the above that the main and defining epistemological feature of the experiment is its simultaneous belonging to the subject-practical and cognitive activity of a person. These two aspects are organically linked in the experiment. The goal of experimental activity is to increase scientific knowledge, and in this respect it is cognitive. However, since a necessary condition for achieving this goal is a change, the transformation of reality, experimental activity also acts as a form of practice.
From other forms of practical activity, for example, material and production, a scientific experiment differs in its purpose. If in the process of production activity a person transforms objects of nature with the help of certain material means in order to turn them into objects that can satisfy his practical needs, then the goal of the experiment is such a transformation of objects that makes it possible to reveal their empirical characteristics. That is, the experiment is practical activity undertaken for the sake of knowledge.
Being a specific form of practice, the experiment acts in science as the foundations of knowledge and the criterion of the truth of knowledge. Hence the two epistemological functions of the experiment: research (heuristic) and verification (criteria).
Since the experiment sometimes reveals new, unexpected, from the point of view of existing theories, facts, it plays the role of the basis of theoretical knowledge, stimulates the further development and improvement of the theory. However, most often the experiment is set up to test the already existing theoretical knowledge of a hypothetical nature. To do this, empirically verifiable consequences are logically derived from the hypothesis, and then it is determined by experiment whether the predicted phenomena actually exist or not. That is, the experiment either confirms (verifies) the hypothesis, or refutes it (falsifies). We will return to the question of these two functions of the experiment in later sections of our manual.
It should be noted, however, that simple observation is also capable of performing these epistemological functions. What, then, is the advantage of experiment over simple observation in terms of the results obtained through it? Attention should be paid here to the following significant points.
Even in those cases when the conditions of interest to the researcher can develop in nature itself, as we have already noted, their occurrence often has to be waited for. Therefore, with the dominance of the method of observation in science, the development of knowledge proceeds rather slowly. Since in the experiment these conditions are created by the researcher himself, the learning process is speeding up.
In the experiment, such combinations of circumstances can be artificially created, which in natural conditions don't meet at all. For example, an experiment makes it possible to study the properties of objects of reality in extreme conditions - at ultra-low or ultra-high temperatures, at the highest pressures, at enormous strengths of electric or magnetic fields, etc. The experimenter can speed up or slow down, and thereby make available to study processes that in natural states proceed extremely quickly or extremely slowly (for example, an increase in the growth rate of a plant). The result of this is the discovery of such properties of objects, which in natural conditions are hidden and therefore cannot be known at all by mere observation.
In the process of simple observation, the object under study is usually exposed to extraneous, external factors, which makes it difficult to obtain accurate and reliable knowledge about it. The experiment gives the researcher the opportunity, with the help of certain material means, isolate the object under study from the influence of these factors obscuring its essence and study it, so to speak "in its purest form". So, studying the behavior of animals by the method of conditioned reflexes, I. Pavlov placed animals in a chamber (“tower of silence”) isolated from external random influences. Only in this way could it be possible to trace the connection between a well-defined stimulus and the response of the organism, and thereby draw a correct conclusion regarding the processes taking place in the brain.
The method of experimental isolation is also used by science for the knowledge of complex objects. A simple observation, at best, fixes the overall picture of some complex whole, leaving it unclear the role of individual interacting factors in it. Thus, under natural conditions it is impossible to determine the chemical action of each of the main rays of the solar spectrum. This is possible only in experiment by decomposing the spectrum into its constituent rays and then studying the action of each of these rays in isolation from the others. In the same way, a number of important discoveries in biology were made precisely when experimenters learned to divide living objects into parts, to single out aspects in them that are of interest to experimenters, and to study them in vivo (i.e., how they actually function in a whole organism) or in vitro (to cultivate them in an artificial environment, outside the body). This is largely due to, for example, progress in the field of cytology.
The isolation of different conditions in the experiment is of great importance in the cognition causal connections. It greatly facilitates the analysis of a phenomenon, the separation of essential connections from non-essential ones, allows you to find out the influence of each of the conditions on the phenomenon under study, etc.
The side of the experimental method that we have noted functionally brings it closer to the abstracting activity of thinking. After all, abstraction also represents the selection of certain essential properties and relations of an object, by abstracting them from non-essential, from the point of view of the problem being solved, sides and the formation of some “abstract object”. The difference between them, however, lies in the fact that in the experiment the isolation of insignificant factors is not achieved. mentally, as in abstraction, and practically, in a directly perceptible sensory form.
Through experimentation, the researcher can systematically vary combine different conditions. By changing some of them while keeping the others unchanged and isolating the third ones, the experimenter thereby reveals the significance of individual conditions and establishes regular connections, determining the process under study. Thus, the experiment is an effective tool for revealing the laws of nature. With this feature of the experimental method in mind, I.P. Pavlov wrote: in artificial, simplified combinations determines the true connection between phenomena” 7 . At the same time, by clarifying the regular connections between phenomena, the experimenter can vary not only the conditions themselves in the sense of their presence and absence, but also quantitative relations. Thanks to this, it becomes possible to give a quantitative, mathematical expression to the discovered law of nature.
Since in the experiment the research is carried out in artificial conditions, which the researcher himself creates, the experiment easier than simple observation, controllable.
Finally, an important advantage of a scientific experiment is its reproducibility which, with simple observation, is often very difficult or even impossible. The reproducibility of an experiment means that its conditions and, consequently, the observations and measurements carried out in connection with it can be repeated as many times as necessary to obtain accurate and reliable results. The possibility of repeated repetition of the experiment makes it possible to base generalization and conclusions on a large series of observations and measurements, which excludes random errors.
Thus, experiment provides a more accurate, deeper and faster study of phenomena than simple observation.
1 “Scientific fact” in this case is understood as such a single empirical statement that contains reliable information about individual properties of objects of reality.
2 More details about the levels of scientific knowledge can be read: Introduction to Philosophy. M., 1989. Chapter 13.
3 This refers to observation as an independent research method (“simple observation”), in contrast to observation as part of an experiment. As for measurement, it never exists independently and functions either as part of an observation or an experiment.
4 I.P. Pavlov. Full sob. Op.T. II. Book. 2. M.-L., 1951. S. 274.
5 The word "naturalist" means: "one who tortures nature", that is, torments her, forcing her to reveal her secrets. At the same time, the word "torture" in the Old Russian language meant "to interrogate", "to ask". These two meanings in the word "naturalist" seem to intersect.
6 Introduction to philosophy. M., 1989. S. 400.
1) Experiment- (from lat. experimentum - trial, attempt, experience) - English. experiment; German experiment. A general scientific method for obtaining new knowledge about the cause-and-effect relationships between phenomena and processes of social science under controlled and controlled conditions. reality.
2) Experiment- (from lat. experimentum ~ test, experience) - a form of cognition of objective reality in science, in which phenomena are studied using appropriately selected or artificially created controlled conditions that ensure the flow in its pure form and accurate measurement of those processes, observation of which rymi is necessary to establish regular relationships between phenomena.
3) Experiment- a method of obtaining data in which conditions and variables are controlled to establish causal relationships. It gives researchers the opportunity to test the influence of the independent variable on the dependent variable.
4) Experiment- - a method of collecting and analyzing empirical data, with the help of which, through the systematic management of conditions, hypotheses about the causal relationships of phenomena are scientifically tested.
5) Experiment- - reproduction of some phenomenon by experience, the creation of something new under certain conditions for the purpose of research, testing.
6) Experiment- - a method of obtaining data in which conditions and variables are controlled to establish causal relationships.
7) Experiment - (lat. experimentum - test, experience) - a method of empirical knowledge, with the help of which, under controlled and controlled conditions (often specially designed), knowledge is obtained regarding the connections (most often causal) between phenomena and objects or new properties of objects or phenomena are discovered. E. can be natural and mental. Full-scale E. is carried out with objects and in situations of the reality under study itself and, as a rule, presupposes the intervention of the experimenter in the natural course of events. Mental E. involves the setting of a conditional situation that exhibits the properties of interest to the researcher, and operating with idealized objects (the latter are often specially constructed for these purposes). An intermediate status is occupied by model E., carried out with artificially created models (which may or may not correspond to any real objects and situations), but which involve a real change in these models. E. as a research and transformational activity can be considered as a special form of practice that allows you to establish the (in)consistency of concepts and constructs of cognition, theoretically discovered connections and relationships - with reality. In the so-called decisive E., the theory as a whole can be tested. E. is the most complex and effective method of empirical knowledge, which is associated with the formation of European experimental science and the assertion of the dominance of explanatory models in natural science as a whole. It originates from the studies of G. Galileo and the Florentine Academy of Experience founded after his death. Theoretically, E. was first substantiated in the works of F. Bacon, the subsequent development of whose ideas is associated with the name of Mill. E.'s monopoly position was called into question only in the 20th century. first of all in socio-humanitarian knowledge, and also in connection with the phenomenological and then hermeneutical turn in philosophy and science, on the one hand, and the trend towards the ultimate formalization (mathematization) of natural science, on the other (the emergence and growth of the proportion of mathematical model E.) . E. involves the creation of artificial systems (or "artificialization" of natural ones), which make it possible to influence them by rearranging their elements, eliminating them, or replacing them with others. Tracking the changes in the system (which are qualified as the consequences of the actions taken), it is possible to reveal certain real relationships between the elements and thereby reveal new properties and patterns of the studied phenomena. In natural science, changing conditions and controlling them are carried out through the use of devices of different levels of complexity (from the bell in I. Pavlov's experiments on conditioned reflexes up to synchrophasotrons, etc. devices). E. is carried out to solve certain cognitive problems dictated by the state of the theory, but it also generates new problems that require their solution in subsequent E., i.e. is also a powerful generator of new knowledge. E. allows: 1) to study the phenomenon in a "pure" form, when side (background) factors are artificially eliminated; 2) to investigate the properties of an object in artificially created extreme conditions or to cause phenomena that are weakly or not manifested in natural conditions; 3) systematically change and vary various conditions to obtain the desired result; 4) repeatedly reproduce the course of the process under strictly fixed and repetitive conditions. E. is usually addressed: 1) when trying to discover previously unknown properties in an object for the production of knowledge that does not follow from the available (research E.); 2) when it is necessary to check the correctness of hypotheses or any theoretical constructions (testing E.); 3) when for educational purposes they "show" some phenomenon (demonstration E.). A special type of E. is social E. (in particular, E. in sociology). In fact, every human action taken to achieve a certain result can be considered as a kind of E. According to the logical structure, E. are divided into parallel (when the experimentation procedure is based on a comparison of two groups of objects or phenomena, one of which has experienced the influence of an experimental factor - experimental group, and the other is not - the control group) and sequential (in which there is no control group, and measurements are made on the same group before and after the introduction of the experimental factor). V.L. Abushenko
Experiment
(from lat. experimentum - trial, attempt, experience) - English. experiment; German experiment. A general scientific method for obtaining new knowledge about the cause-and-effect relationships between phenomena and processes of social science under controlled and controlled conditions. reality.
(from lat. experimentum ~ test, experience) - a form of cognition of objective reality in science, in which phenomena are studied using appropriately selected or artificially created controlled conditions that ensure the flow in a pure form and accurate measurement of those processes, observation of which necessary to establish regular relationships between phenomena.
a way of obtaining data in which conditions and variables are controlled to establish causal relationships. It gives researchers the opportunity to test the influence of the independent variable on the dependent variable.
A method of collecting and analyzing empirical data by which hypotheses about the causal relationships of phenomena are scientifically tested by systematic management of conditions.
The reproduction of some phenomenon by experience, the creation of something new under certain conditions for the purpose of research, testing.
- a way of obtaining data in which conditions and variables are controlled to establish causal relationships.
(lat. experimentum - test, experience) - a method of empirical knowledge, with the help of which, under controlled and controlled conditions (often specially designed), one obtains knowledge about the connections (most often causal) between phenomena and objects or discovers new properties of objects or phenomena. E. can be natural and mental. Full-scale E. is carried out with objects and in situations of the reality under study itself and, as a rule, presupposes the intervention of the experimenter in the natural course of events. Mental E. involves the setting of a conditional situation that exhibits the properties of interest to the researcher, and operating with idealized objects (the latter are often specially constructed for these purposes). An intermediate status is occupied by model E., carried out with artificially created models (which may or may not correspond to any real objects and situations), but which involve a real change in these models. E. as a research and transformational activity can be considered as a special form of practice that allows you to establish the (in)consistency of concepts and constructs of cognition, theoretically discovered connections and relationships - with reality. In the so-called decisive E., the theory as a whole can be tested. E. is the most complex and effective method of empirical knowledge, which is associated with the formation of European experimental science and the assertion of the dominance of explanatory models in natural science as a whole. It originates from the studies of G. Galileo and the Florentine Academy of Experience founded after his death. Theoretically, E. was first substantiated in the works of F. Bacon, the subsequent development of whose ideas is associated with the name of Mill. E.'s monopoly position was called into question only in the 20th century. first of all in socio-humanitarian knowledge, and also in connection with the phenomenological and then hermeneutical turn in philosophy and science, on the one hand, and the trend towards the ultimate formalization (mathematization) of natural science, on the other (the emergence and growth of the proportion of mathematical model E.) . E. involves the creation of artificial systems (or "artificialization" of natural ones), which make it possible to influence them by rearranging their elements, eliminating them, or replacing them with others. Tracking the changes in the system (which are qualified as the consequences of the actions taken), it is possible to reveal certain real relationships between the elements and thereby reveal new properties and patterns of the studied phenomena. In natural science, changing conditions and controlling them are carried out through the use of devices of different levels of complexity (from the bell in I. Pavlov's experiments on conditioned reflexes up to synchrophasotrons, etc. devices). E. is carried out to solve certain cognitive problems dictated by the state of the theory, but it also generates new problems that require their solution in subsequent E., i.e. is also a powerful generator of new knowledge. E. allows: 1) to study the phenomenon in a "pure" form, when side (background) factors are artificially eliminated; 2) to investigate the properties of an object in artificially created extreme conditions or to cause phenomena that are weakly or not manifested in natural conditions; 3) systematically change and vary various conditions to obtain the desired result; 4) repeatedly reproduce the course of the process under strictly fixed and repetitive conditions. E. is usually addressed: 1) when trying to discover previously unknown properties in an object for the production of knowledge that does not follow from the available (research E.); 2) when it is necessary to check the correctness of hypotheses or any theoretical constructions (testing E.); 3) when for educational purposes they "show" some phenomenon (demonstration E.). A special type of E. is social E. (in particular, E. in sociology). In fact, every human action taken to achieve a certain result can be considered as a kind of E. According to the logical structure, E. are divided into parallel (when the experimentation procedure is based on a comparison of two groups of objects or phenomena, one of which has experienced the influence of an experimental factor - experimental group, and the other is not - the control group) and sequential (in which there is no control group, and measurements are made on the same group before and after the introduction of the experimental factor). V.L. Abushenko
A psychological experiment is an experiment conducted under special conditions to obtain new scientific knowledge through the targeted intervention of a researcher in the life of the subject. This is an ordered study in which the researcher directly changes a certain factor (or factors), keeps the others unchanged, and observes the results of systematic changes. See Experiment as learning variables
In a broad sense, a psychological experiment sometimes includes, in addition to the actual experiment, such research methods as observation, questioning, testing). However, in a narrow sense (and traditionally in experimental psychology), the experiment is considered an independent method.
Types of experiments
Psychology uses laboratory experiments, natural experiments, and formative experiments. Depending on the stage of the study, a pilot study and the actual experiment are distinguished. Experiments can be explicit and with a hidden purpose.
Many researchers in the process of discussion and discussion practice thought experiments. They are obviously much cheaper and faster, although not always convincing and reliable.
According to the method of conducting, experiments are distinguished:
Laboratory experiment.
This is the most common and respected experiment in scientific psychology. In it, you can control dependent and independent variables as strictly as possible. See →
Natural (field) experiment.
This is an experiment carried out in ordinary life, when there seems to be no experiment and no experimenter.
Formative (psychological and pedagogical) experiment.
The experiment consists in the fact that a person or a group of people participate in the training and formation of certain qualities and skills. And if the result is formed, we do not need to guess what led to this result: it was this technique that led to the result.
Depending on the stage of the study, I distinguish between a pilot study (the so-called draft, trial study) and the actual experiment.
Explicit and covert experiments
Depending on the level of awareness, experiments can also be divided into
those in which the subject is given complete information about the goals and objectives of the study,
those in which, for the purposes of the experiment, some information about him from the subject is withheld or distorted (for example, when it is necessary that the subject does not know about the true hypothesis of the study, he may be told a false one),
and those in which the subject is unaware of the purpose of the experiment or even the very fact of the experiment (for example, experiments involving children).
10. Forms, types and types of psychological research.
T and py experiments
1. Search (exploratory) experiment - an experiment that aims to reveal the existence of a relationship between independent and dependent variables.
2. Confirmatory (confirmatory) experiment - an experiment that determines the characteristics of relationships between independent and dependent variables.
Types of experiments
/. Critical experiment - testing the plausibility of all possible hypotheses; careful theoretical development of the problem and research planning are necessary.
2. Pilot study - hypothesis testing, search for research approaches, elimination of gross errors in experiment planning and measurement of variables.
3. Field study (natural experiment) - the study of the relationship of independent and dependent variables with incomplete control of variables
4. Laboratory research (experiment) - the study of the relationship of independent and dependent variables with relatively complete control of variables.
FORMS OF EXPERIMENTS
1. Formative experiment - the presence of X, which
swarm, influencing the subjects, forms their but
dependent variable.
2. Ascertaining experiment - F O N and others.
are X.
Forms of experimental research
1. Laboratory experiment - an experimental study transferred to artificial conditions in order to reduce the influence of additional variables affecting the course and its results.
2. Natural experiment. A variation of the experimental method is the natural experiment, which occupies an intermediate position between experiment and simple observation.
The experiment is the most important part of scientific research, with the help of which the study of the world around us is carried out. Such a statement requires a definition of the very concept of experiment. However, it should be recognized that it is not possible to do this in any satisfactory way, since the definition must contain the answer to the only question: how to carry out the experiment?
Here are some definitions of the concept of experiment, taken from various sources published in different years:
“An experiment is a scientifically set experiment, the observation of the phenomenon under study under precisely taken into account conditions that make it possible to monitor the course of the phenomenon and recreate it every time these conditions are repeated.” (BES, 2nd edition v.48, 1957).
“Experiment is a sensory-objective activity in science, carried out by theoretically known means. In the scientific language, the term "experiment" is usually used intuitively in the sense that is common to a number of related concepts: experience, purposeful observation, reproduction of the object of knowledge, etc. “. (Philosophical Encyclopedia, vol. 5, M. "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1970)
“Experiment is a way of studying phenomena under precisely established conditions, which make it possible to reproduce and observe these phenomena. It is a way of a person's material impact on an object, a way of practical mastering of reality. "(A Brief Dictionary of Philosophy, M. 1982).
“Experiment is a method of cognition, with the help of which phenomena of nature and society are studied under controlled and controlled conditions.” (BES, 2nd edition, 1997).
Similar definitions are contained in foreign publications. So in the Oxford Dictionary 1958. An experiment is defined as an action or operation undertaken to discover something new, or to test a hypothesis, or to illustrate a known truth. And then, "an experiment is a procedure, method, or sequence of actions taken in a state of uncertainty as to whether they serve the purpose."
Or another definition from the American Encyclopedia (Encyclopedia Americana, v.10, 1944):
“Experiment is an operation intended to discover a truth, principle or effect, or after their discovery, to refine or illustrate. It differs from observation in that observation is an action more or less controlled by the individual.”
An analysis of such a small selection of definitions of the concept of experiment shows that none of them contains an answer to the question posed: how can an experiment be carried out?
It is very difficult to accept the assertion that an experiment is an object-sensory activity carried out by known means. First, if, for example, a researcher is dealing with radioactive radiation, what does he feel objectively? Secondly, experimental setups are not always theoretically known means, and there is absolutely no need to talk about the creation of precisely taken into account conditions for reproducing the phenomenon under study.
The realization of the fundamental impossibility of creating precisely taken into account the conditions for conducting an experiment and using installations with fully or partially known characteristics led to the emergence of a mathematical theory of optimal experiment.
This theory provides an answer to the question posed, if it is reformulated as follows: which experiment should be considered good in the sense of the results obtained, and which should be considered bad?
As for the compact definition of the concept of experiment, it is probably better not to look for it, but to use the metaphorical definition given by Georges Cuvier (1769-1832). He defined the tasks of the experiment as follows: “the observer listens to nature, the experimenter questions and forces her to undress” (BES, 1st edition v.63, 1933).
Let us add only that this process should be carried out in such a way as to lead to the best results. It is clear that the results obtained will depend both on the completeness of the factors taken into account and on the organization of the experiment itself.
These factors are used in the construction of hypothetical models of real processes, phenomena or objects. Usually, mathematical models are used as such models, the construction of which is almost an art in the sense that the question of the equivalence of a model to a real phenomenon is a question that the experimenter asks “nature”, and the answer to it is contained in the results of the experiment.
The organization of the experiment - its planning, is mainly a “technical issue”, which is inextricably linked with the methods of mathematical processing of its results.
All experiments on the basis of "the purpose of the experiment" can be divided into 2 classes, shown in Fig. 1.1
In extreme experiments, the researcher is interested in the conditions under which the process under study satisfies a certain optimality criterion. For example, the determination of such parameters of an automatic control system (tolerances for parameter values) under which it would solve the problem of optimal performance.
In experiments to elucidate the mechanisms of phenomena, the researcher is interested in finding (confirming accepted) mathematical models of a process, phenomenon or real object.
In the future, this class of experiments will be of interest, and therefore it is necessary to continue the classification of experiments.
If the available amount of a priori information about the phenomenon under study is used as a classification feature, then the block diagram of the classification of experiments to identify the mechanisms of processes occurring in objects takes the form shown in Fig. 2.1.2.
Experiments to reveal the structure of mathematical models of phenomena and related problems of mathematical processing of information are called problems of structural identification.
Experiments to determine the values of the parameters of the accepted mathematical model of phenomena and related tasks are called parametric identification problems.
The tasks arising in the organization of such experiments have been studied to varying degrees of completeness, and the mathematical apparatus used in this case varies in complexity.
The ways of organizing the experiment are not numerous and are associated with the principles of static and sequential planning.
Figure 2.3 shows the schemes of the static and sequential way of organizing the experiment.
A). - static way of organizing the experiment
b). - a consistent way of organizing the experiment
An analysis of these schemes shows that the presence of feedback in the scheme of a sequential method of organizing an experiment makes it possible to change the conditions in the process of conducting it to improve the results or to terminate it ahead of schedule if the quality of the results has reached the required level.
psychology test experiment
Man and the features of his personality have been the object of interest and study of the great minds of mankind for more than one century. And from the very beginning of the development of psychological science to the present day, people have managed to develop and significantly improve their skills in this difficult but exciting business. Therefore, now, in order to obtain reliable data in the study of the characteristics of the human psyche and his personality, people use a large number of various methods and methods of research in psychology. And one of the methods that have gained the greatest popularity and proven themselves from the most practical side is a psychological experiment.
An experiment in psychology is a certain experience that is carried out under special conditions in order to obtain psychological data through the intervention of a researcher in the process of the subject's activity. Both a specialist scientist and a simple layman can act as a researcher during the experiment.
The main characteristics and features of the experiment are:
- · Ability to change any variable and create new conditions to identify new patterns;
- · Possibility to choose a reference point;
- Possibility of repeated holding;
- · Possibility to include in the experiment other methods of psychological research: test, survey, observation and others.
There are many views on the differentiation of experimental techniques and a significant number of terms denoting them. If we summarize the results in this area, then the totality of the main varieties of the experiment can be represented as follows:
I. According to the validity and completeness of the procedure
- 1. Real (specific). A real (specific) experiment is an experiment carried out in reality under specific experimental conditions. It is real research that provides factual material used both for practical and theoretical purposes. The results of the experiment are valid for specific conditions and populations. Their transfer to broader conditions is probabilistic.
- 2. Thought (abstract): A thought experiment is an imaginary experience that cannot be done in reality. Sometimes this category also includes mental manipulations regarding the organization and conduct of a planned real experiment in the future. But such a preliminary "playing" in the mind of real experience is, in fact, its obligatory attribute, implemented at the preparatory stages of the study (problem setting, hypotheses, planning).
- a) ideal;
- b) endless;
- c) perfect.
An ideal experiment is an experiment in which the dependent variable is not influenced by any other than one independent variable. In reality, it is impossible to exclude the additional influences of many attendant factors. Therefore, the ideal experiment is not really feasible. In practice, the approximation of real experience to the ideal is realized by controlling additional variables, which is described in the description of the experimental procedure.
An infinite experiment is an experiment that covers all possible experimental situations for the entire study population (general population). In reality, the set of such situations is limitless due to the huge, and often unknown, size of the general population and the countless number of factors acting on the subject. Accounting for all this infinite set of situations is feasible only in the imagination of the researcher. Due to its infinity (in variety and in time), such an experiment was called the infinite. The practical meaninglessness of an infinite experiment is in contradiction with one of the main ideas of empirical research - the transfer of results obtained on a limited sample to the entire population. It is needed only as a theoretical model.
Flawless is an experiment that combines the features of both ideal and endless experiments. As a standard for an exhaustive experiment, it makes it possible to assess the completeness and, accordingly, the shortcomings of a specific real experience.
II. According to the purpose of the experiment
1. Research.
A research experiment is an experience aimed at obtaining new knowledge about the object and subject of study. It is with this type of experiment that the concept of "scientific experiment" is usually associated, since the main goal of science is the knowledge of the unknown. While the other two types of goal-criterion experiment are predominantly applied in nature, the research experiment mainly performs a search function.
2. Diagnostic (exploratory).
A diagnostic (exploratory) experiment is an experiment-task performed by the subject in order to detect or measure any qualities in him. These experiments do not give new knowledge about the subject of research (personality quality). In fact, this is testing.
3. Demo.
A demonstration experiment is an illustrative experience that accompanies educational or recreational activities. The immediate goal of such experiments is to familiarize the audience with either the appropriate experimental method or the effect obtained in the experiment. Demonstration experiments have found the greatest distribution in educational practice. With their help, students master research and diagnostic techniques. Often an additional goal is set - to interest students in the relevant field of knowledge.
III. By level of research
1. Preliminary (reconnaissance)
A preliminary (reconnaissance) experiment is an experiment carried out to clarify the problem and adequately orient it. With its help, little-known situations are probed, hypotheses are refined, questions are identified and formulated for further research. Studies of this reconnaissance nature are often called pilot studies. On the basis of the data obtained in the preliminary experiments, questions are being addressed about the need and possibilities for further research in this area and the organization of the main experiments.
2. Main
The main experiment is a full-scale empirical study carried out in order to obtain new scientific data on the problem of interest to the experimenter. The result obtained as a result is used both for theoretical and applied purposes. The main experiment may be preceded by preliminary ones of both reconnaissance and fact-finding nature.
3. Control.
A control experiment is an experiment whose results are compared with the results of the main experiment. The need for control may arise for various reasons. For example: 1) errors were found in the conduct of the main experiments; 2) doubts about the accuracy of the procedure; 3) doubts about the adequacy of the procedure to the hypothesis; 4) the emergence of new scientific data that contradict those obtained earlier; 5) the desire for additional evidence of the validity of the hypothesis accepted in the main experiment and its transformation into a theory; 6) the desire to refute the existing hypotheses or theories. It is clear that the control experiments should not be inferior to the main ones in terms of accuracy and reliability.
IV. By type of impact on the subject
1. Internal.
An internal experiment is a real experiment, where mental phenomena are caused or changed directly by the volitional effort of the subject, and not by influence from the outside world. Experimentation is carried out in the subjective space of a person, where he plays the role of both the experimenter and the subject. The internal impact always includes an independent variable, and ideally it should be limited to only it. This brings the inner experiment closer to the mental ideal.
2. External.
An external experiment is a common experimental way of studying mental phenomena, when their appearance or change is achieved due to external influences on the sense organs of the subject.
V. According to the degree of intervention of the experimenters, the vital activity of the subject (according to the type of experimental situation)
A. Classic grouping
1. Laboratory (artificial).
A laboratory (artificial) experiment is an experiment carried out under artificially created conditions that allow strictly dosing stimulation (independent variables) and controlling other effects on the subject (additional variables), as well as accurately registering his responses, including dependent variables. The subject is aware of his role in the experiment, but his overall intention is usually not known to him.
2. Natural (field).
Natural (field) experiment - an experiment carried out in the usual conditions for the test subject with a minimum of interference in his life by the experimenter. The presentation of an independent variable is, as it were, "woven" in a natural way into the normal course of his activity. Depending on the type of activity performed and the corresponding situation, types of natural experiment are also distinguished: in conditions of communication, labor, play, educational, military activities, in everyday life and leisure. A specific type of this type of experiment is an investigative experiment, in which the artificiality of the procedure is combined with the naturalness of the conditions for illegal actions.
3. Formative.
A formative experiment is a method of active influence on the subject, contributing to his mental development and personal growth. The main areas of application of this method are pedagogy, age (primarily children's) and educational psychology. The active influence of the experimenter lies mainly in the creation of special conditions and situations that, firstly, initiate the appearance of certain mental functions and, secondly, allow them to be purposefully changed and formed. The first is characteristic of both laboratory and natural experiments. The second is the specificity of the considered form of experiment. The formation of the psyche and personality traits is a long process. Therefore, the formative experiment is usually carried out for a long time. And in this respect it can be classified as a longitudinal study.
B. Extraordinary grouping:
1. An experiment that duplicates reality.
Experiments that duplicate reality are experiments that simulate specific real life situations, the results of which have a low level of generalization. Their conclusions are applicable to specific people in the conditions of specific activities, which is why they are also called full compliance experiments. These experiments are purely practical purposes. This type of experiment is close to the natural type in terms of classical grouping.
2. An experiment that improves reality.
Reality-enhancing experiments are those in which only some of the variables to be studied are changed. The rest of the variables are stable. This type is similar to the laboratory experiment according to the generally accepted classification.
VI. If possible, the influence of the experimenter on the independent variable
1. Provoked experiment.
A provoked experiment is an experiment in which the experimenter himself acts on the independent variable. Changes in NP can be both quantitative and qualitative. And then the results observed by the experimenter (in the form of reactions of the subject) are, as it were, provoked by him. Obviously, the vast majority of experimental studies refer to this species. P. Fress, not without reason, calls this type of experiment "classical".
2. Experiment referred to.
A referenced experiment is an experiment in which a change in the independent variable is carried out without the intervention of the experimenter. These include personality changes, brain damage, cultural differences, and so on. According to P. Fress, these cases are very valuable, “since the experimenter cannot introduce variables whose action would be slow (education system), and does not have the right to experiment on a person if his experiment can cause serious and irreversible physiological or psychological disorders » . There may be cases where an experiment on some variables is provoked, but on others it is referred to.
VII. By the number of independent variables
1. One-factor (two-dimensional).
A one-factor (two-dimensional) experiment is an experiment with one independent and one dependent variable. Since there is only one factor influencing the answers of the subject, the experience is called one-factor or one-level experience. And since there are two measured quantities - NP and ZP, the experiment is called two-dimensional or bivalent. The selection of only two variables allows us to study the mental phenomenon in a "pure" form. The implementation of this version of the study is carried out using the procedures described above for controlling additional variables and presenting an independent variable.
2. Multifactorial (multidimensional).
A multivariate (multivariate) experiment is an experiment with several independent and usually one dependent variable. The presence of several dependent variables is not excluded, but this case is still extremely rare in psychological research. Although, apparently, the future belongs to him, since real mental phenomena always represent the most complex system of many interacting factors. The name “poorly organized systems”, which is common in science, is applicable to them, which just emphasizes the multiplicity of determination of their manifestation.
VIII. By number of test subjects
1. Individual.
An individual experiment is an experiment with one subject.
2. Group.
Experience with several subjects at the same time. Their mutual influences can be both significant and insignificant, they can be taken into account by the experimenter or not taken into account. If the mutual influence of the subjects on each other is due not only to co-presence, but also to joint activity, then it is possible to speak of a collective experiment.
IX. By the method of identifying relationships between variables (by the procedure for varying the experimental situation)
1. Intraprocedural (inside).
An intraprocedural experiment (lat. intra - inside) is an experiment in which all experimental situations (in fact, all values of the independent variable) are presented to the same contingent of subjects. If the subject is alone, i.e. individual experience is carried out, then one speaks of an intra-individual experiment. Comparison of the responses of this subject, obtained in different situations (for different values of NP), and makes it possible to identify relationships between variables. This option is especially convenient for quantitative changes in the NP to determine functional dependencies.
2. Interprocedural (between).
Interprocedural experiment (lat. inter - between) - an experiment in which different contingents of subjects are presented with the same experimental situations. Work with each individual contingent is carried out either in different places, or at different times, or by different experimenters, but according to identical programs. The main goal of such experiments is to clarify individual or intergroup differences. Naturally, the former are revealed in a series of individual experiments, and the latter in group experiments. And then in the first case one speaks of an interindividual experiment, in the second case one speaks of an intergroup, or more often an intergroup experiment.
3. Cross procedural (intersection).
A cross-procedural experiment (English cross - to cross) is an experiment in which different contingents of subjects are presented with different situations. If the subjects work alone, then we are talking about a cross-individual experiment. If each situation corresponds to a certain group of subjects, then this is a cross-group experiment, which is sometimes called an intergroup experiment, which is a terminological inaccuracy. Intergroup is synonymous with inter-, not cross-group experiment. This inaccuracy stems either from inadequate translation of foreign sources, or from a careless attitude to terminology.
X. By type of change in the independent variable
1. Quantitative.
A quantitative experiment is an experiment in which the independent variable can decrease or increase. The range of its possible values is a continuum, i.e. continuous sequence of values. These values, as a rule, can be expressed numerically, since the NP has units of measurement. Depending on the nature of the NP, its quantitative representation can be carried out in various ways. For example, time interval (duration), dosage, weight, concentration, number of elements. These are physical indicators. The quantitative expression of NP can also be realized through psychological indicators: both psychophysical and psychometric.
2. Quality.
A qualitative experiment is an experiment in which the independent variable has no quantitative variation. Its meanings appear only as various qualitative modifications. Examples: gender differences in populations, modality differences in signals, etc. The limiting case of qualitative representation of NP is its presence or absence. For example: the presence (absence) of interference.
