A lab experiment is a study in which you make changes in the independent variabl e, and then control all the

other variables so that only the variable of interes t could possibly affect the outcome. For example, if you are interested in the e ffects of seeing an inspirational film on taking a math test, you can recruit so me experimental subjects to come to your theatre, then randomly assign half to s ee the film, and the other half to see some other film, then give them the test right after the films. Experiments are much better for inferring causality than observational studies b ecause they control for more confounding variables. For example, if you were usi ng an observation study to look at the effects of the inspirational film, you co uld just give the test to thousands of people, then ask them if they happened to have seen that particular film. Then you could compare the average score for pe ople who had seen it with the score of people who had not seen it. The trouble w ith this is that we don't know why people chose to see or not see the film. That reason could be related to math or general study skills. For example, the inspi rational film might have been more likely to draw devout, middle-class Christian s than drugged-out, school-hating teenagers. The people going to such a film on their own might be the same people who would do better on math tests anyway, so if they did do better on the test, it might not be because the movie itself insp ired them.