It's not so much a matter of "wrong" as it is "historically and disciplinarily limited." See:
Winston, Andrew S. and Blais, Daniel J. (1996) What counts as an experiment?: A transdisciplinary analysis of textbooks, 1930-1970. American Journal of Psychology 109(4):599-616. which can be found on-line at HTP Prints: http://htpprints.yorku.ca/documents/docs/00/00/00/34/index.html Regards, -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] phone: 416-736-5115 ext. 66164 fax: 416-736-5814 http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ =============================== Bill Scott wrote: > I just today asked a student to change the word "experiment" in her paper to > the word "study" because she simply asked different groups to respond to > questionnaires. Around here, I reserve the label "experiment" to mean a > study that randomly assigns participants to conditions. However I wonder if > I am not with it in the way we scientists think these days. I was looking at > NASA research and found that they seem to call any scientific activity an > experiment. > > Here's an example: > http://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/cf/exper.cfm?exp_index=848 > > I have a problem with students who show me published studies that are very > poorly designed but they want to believe them because the studies are in > print. When NASA calls non-experiments "experiments" I find myself losing > credibility. Am I behind the times? > > Bill Scott > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
