Ecological Validity Issues in Field Research Settings

Abstract

This chapter considers as a starting point for further discussion of the problems of environmental field research. Flexibility in research design, of course, complicates the evaluation of the validity of findings generated in the field. An enduring aspect of the validity problem stems from efforts to reconcile the demands of laboratory-based research design to the irregularities and uncertainties encountered in field research. Field sites are then chosen as settings in which it is possible to examine the operation of variables that relate to a process of interest. Field research is often required when the sponsors of the study have a vested interest in understanding a phenomenon as part of an ongoing setting. A final component that is less relevant in the laboratory but is certainly important in other field settings involves the question of where the research might fit within a sociopolitical context.