Question

Name one benefit and one limitation of comparative investigations

Answer 1

Comparative investigations provide large amounts of information and use a wide range of variables. However, they may reveal relationships that do not always indicate cause and effect.

Answer 2

A comparative investigation is the collection of data on different objects/features/organisms, or collection of data under different conditions, for example, the time of year, temperature, and locations to make a comparison. In a comparative investigation, a scientist looks for patterns through comparison of similarities and differences over time and under various conditions. Comparative investigations have a research question, possible hypothesis, procedures, and a conclusion.

Benefits

-Practical uses - Quick, cheap and easily accessible

-Scientists Use comparative investigations to establish correlations between variables. , for example, used this method to create a link between the level of social interrogation and rates of suicide.

Limitation

-Difficulty is experienced when operationalizing variables

-The method also relies on the use of official statistics which interpretivists argue that they are socially constructed for example Durkheim’s study on official stats on suicide being accurate.