We explain what an experiment is and what types of experiments can be done according to their objectives and the resources they use.
What is an experiment?
an experiment It is a controlled procedure in which certain hypotheses are testedeither to verify or refute them, that is, to determine whether they are valid or not. Experiments can have very different objectives and follow different methodologies. In general, all They propose to reproduce some type of reality phenomenon in a controlled environmentto be able to measure and control the variables that intervene in it.
The word “experiment” is linked to “experience”, since both come from Latin experience (“experiment” or “try”), union of voices ex- (“outside”) and periri (“treat”). This makes sense since it is about reproducing some experience of reality in a controlled environment, such as a laboratory. In fact, in the scientific method, experimentation plays a central place, since it allows different researchers, in different parts of the world and at different times, to empirically reproduce the same experience.
However, each branch of science has its own experimental models, adjusted to the nature of its object of study. For example, the social sciences employ statistical experimental methods; while the natural sciences use controlled experimental (that is, laboratory) methods. In any case, the experiments They allow the researcher to obtain interpretable data and thus reach conclusions about the topic of study..
Types of experiments
The English scientist and philosopher Peter Medawar (1915-1987), winner of the Nobel Prize in 1960, proposes the existence of four fundamental types of experiments:
- Baconian experiments (by Sir Francis Bacon)which simply seek to collect objective data on the object of study.
- Aristotelian experiments (by Aristotle)that instead of discovering something new, they propose to verify certain theoretical approaches previously formulated through the use of pure reason.
- Galilean experiments (by Galileo Galilei)which pursue key information to distinguish between different hypotheses that explain the same phenomenon, thus distinguishing between truth and speculation.
- Kantian experiments (by Immanuel Kant)which consist of thought experiments (denkenexperimentenin German), that is, in theoretical studies of the explanations of a given phenomenon, applying logical methods to rule out the least probable options.
On the other hand, a classification of experiments taking into account their essential approach and the resources they use, distinguishes between the following types:
- Controlled experiments. Those that have a “control” group or element with which to compare the results obtained by modifying the variables of a phenomenon. They normally take place in an artificial environment, in which unforeseen variables that could alter the result are not influenced. For example, a medical study to test a medication gives a group of hospitalized patients a certain dose of the drug and another group of similar patients a placebo; and then proceeds to compare the results to see if the medicine had its desired effect.
- Natural experiments or quasi-experiments. Those that are based on the observation of the variables at play without altering or intervening on them, simply collecting data in order to develop a model or a theoretical hypothesis. For example, the observation of astronomical phenomena, such as black holes, is done from the simple observation of space and the measurement of the electromagnetic waves in it, since these phenomena cannot be reproduced in the laboratory to verify Yes, indeed, a black hole is a collapsed star.
- Field experiments. Those that do not take place in the artificial environment of a laboratory, but directly in reality. Statistical experiments, such as those in the social sciences, tend to be of this type, in which it is impossible to isolate the sample to be studied from its environment, and probabilistic methods are needed to obtain valid, although not exact, conclusions. For example, the consumption habits of the population of a country can be measured and compared by a group of specialists based on the results of a survey, which is given to people when they leave the supermarket.
Continue with: Non-experimental research
References
- “Experiment” on Wikipedia.
- “Radication of the word Experiment” in the Online Spanish Etymological Dictionary.
- “The experiment” in Arteology, the science of products and professions.
- “Experimentation (science)” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
