Table of Contents
Definition of Experiment
(noun) A procedure typically used to confirm the validity of a hypothesis by comparing the outcomes of one or more groups to a control group on a given measure.
Examples of Experiment
- Milgram Experiment by Stanley Milgram (1933–1984)
- Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) by Philip George Zimbardo (born 1933)
Experiment Pronunciation
Syllabification: ex·per·i·ment
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /ik-spAIR-uh-muhnt/
- British English – /ik-spE-ri-muhnt/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ɪkˈspɛrəmənt/
- British English – /ɛkˈspɛrɪmənt/
Usage Notes
- Plural: experiments
- An (noun) experimenter (verb) experiments (adverb) to create (adjective) experimental data.
Related Videos
Additional Information
- Quantitative Research Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “experiment” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
Related Terms
- analysis
- attribute
- control group
- correlation
- cross-sectional analysis
- data
- empirical evidence
- hypothesis
- method
- operationalization
Contributor: C. E. Seaman
Works Consulted
Babbie, Earl. 2013. The Practice of Social Research. 13th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Brinkerhoff, David, Lynn White, Suzanne Ortega, and Rose Weitz. 2011. Essentials of Sociology. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Brym, Robert J., and John Lie. 2007. Sociology: Your Compass for a New World. 3rd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Bryman, Alan. 2012. Social Research Methods. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Burdess, Neil. 2010. Starting Statistics: A Short, Clear Guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Cramer, Duncan, and Dennis Howitt. 2004. The SAGE Dictionary of Statistics: A Practical Resource for Students in the Social Sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Farlex. (N.d.) TheFreeDictionary.com: Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus. Farlex. (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/).
Fioramonti, Lorenzo. 2014. How Numbers Rule the World: The Use and Abuse of Statistics in Global Politics. London: Zed Books.
Griffiths, Heather, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones. 2016. Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, TX: OpenStax.
Henslin, James M. 2012. Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. 10th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Larson, Ron, and Elizabeth Farber. 2015. Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson.
Macionis, John. 2012. Sociology. 14th ed. Boston: Pearson.
Marsh, Ian, and Mike Keating, eds. 2006. Sociology: Making Sense of Society. 3rd ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Salkind, Neil J., ed. 2007. Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Taylor & Francis. (N.d.) Routledge Handbooks Online. (https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/).
Weinstein, Jay A. 2010. Applying Social Statistics: An Introduction to Quantitative Reasoning in Sociology. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).
Wiley. (N.d.) Wiley Online Library. (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/).
Cite the Definition of Experiment
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Seaman, C. E. 2015. “experiment.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary, edited by Kenton Bell. Retrieved September 17, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/experiment/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
Seaman, C. E. (2015). experiment. In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/experiment/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Seaman, C. E. 2015. “experiment.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary, edited by Kenton Bell. Accessed September 17, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/experiment/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
Seaman, C. E. “experiment.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2015. Web. 17 Sep. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/experiment/>.