Experimental Research

This research method can be pretty interesting. Here, there is an actual experiment that is done on people with there being some treatment that respondents are subjected to and then the results are measured. There needs to be a control group that is compared to the experimental group. Why? Well with no starting group, there would be no way to make sure that only one variable is being tested.

There are two types of experiments that can be done. One is a blind study where participants don't know what group (experimental or control) they are in. The other is double blind where no one, including the researchers, knows which group people are in.

The main goal of an experiment is to isolate the independent variable in order to measure the results.

In regards to an experiment that was done in the real world, I found an article about an experiment that was done at a winery in France to test people's responses to genetically modified vines.

Of course this study has to do with wine, being that it takes place in France.

Basically, the article is about this group of French activists who went to this winery to destroy all of the GM vines. They argue that these GM crops have not been fully tested for safety.

However, as quoted in the article, this experiment was

more about corporations and public relations than science. The vines GMO field test was more of a sociological experiment, to see how far a profession and a population were willing to perform tests designed to endorse the PGM [Genetically Modified Plants]...while more research is needed, GM vines hold the key to fighting off pathogens. Leading viticultural scientists agree.

It is interesting that although this at first seems like a scientific experiment, it actually has more to do with PR than you may have thought.