Strength Of Panel Study

The ways in which the experiments presented above differ is in regard to the setting in which they are conducted. Some are laboratory experiments that take place in a setting created by researchers, and others such as field experiments are conducted in a participants natural setting. Additional ways for communication researchers to conduct there studies would be research questionnaires which ask participants to write their answers to questions researchers pose and panel studies which are surveys in which responses from the same people are obtained to learn how their beliefs, attitudes, and/or behaviors change. There are particular strengths and weaknesses of each type of experiment done.

Panel studies for instance allow, "researchers to be more confident about attributing patterns of cause in effect in survey data," (Dominick 415) and they are more reliable. Another strength of the panel study is the benefit of, "longitudinal observation of the individual through time," (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panel_study), and the compilation of information at a nice pace makes the withdraw inaccuracies condensed. On the weakness side of these studies, panel members cannot be replaced, so panel studies
A laboratory setting allows researchers to, "Manipulate independent variables," (Hocking 206-207), easily, randomly assign research participants to conditions, control for the effects of unrelated influences, and measure participant 's behavior cleanly, especially there communication behavior. Laboratory experiments help researchers conduct highly controlled full experiments. Lab experiments "are useful because they help establish causality," (Dominick 416). Laboratory experiments allow researchers to exercise high control, but often, "they can minimize external validity," (Hocking 204), because participants may respond differently in laboratories than in natural