terms? Both studies involve observation, so don't let the titles fool you. The fundamental difference is that an experiment requires you to observe what happens when you make some sort of change. An observational study finds the relationship between changes that already exist. It is the method used when it would be impractical or unethical to cause the change yourself. Examples are studying the effects of smoking on birth defect rates (unethical) or on what things do people spend over $1000 when unexpectetedly given a large amount of money (impractical) But if you actually had the money to give people and then found out what they spent it on that would be an experiment.