Experiments

The challenges of experimental work are that it is strictly theory-driven and hypothesis-testing. In order to investigate the effect of certain factors on the perception, experience and reactions of test subjects, they and their effect must be precisely determined beforehand. The design of the factors for an experiment combines theory and the real life world of the participants. The experiment is implemented in such a way that it reflects the construct under investigation (e.g. diversity in a context) and no other factors contribute to potential effects. When looking at the complex real life worlds of different people with different experiences, attitudes or interpretation frameworks, the same factors can have different effects.

The results of experiments provide information on how certain factors affect people and their perception. Experimental variations allow causal conclusions to be drawn about cause and effect, such as the impact of certain environmental factors on attitudes or behavior. Caution is required when generalizing the results across contexts: the effects initially apply to the context in which they were tested. In addition, there are so-called quasi-experimental factors, i.e. impact factors that are not randomly assigned, but are brought in by individuals themselves (such as their own membership of a social group). The effects of these factors cannot be interpreted causally, but they can provide indications of how they relate to other things such as attitudes, experiences or behavior.