Benchmark a constant vs a method

gistfile1.rb

RUBY_VERSION
# => "2.1.1"

require 'benchmark'

DEFAULT_OPTIONS = {validate: true}

def default_options
  {validate: true}
end

Benchmark.benchmark do |bm|
  bm.report("constant") { 1_000_000.times { DEFAULT_OPTIONS.merge(validate: false) }}  
  bm.report("method") { 1_000_000.times { default_options.merge(validate: false) } }
end

# constant  1.930000   0.380000   2.310000 (  2.321628)
# method    2.990000   0.550000   3.540000 (  3.571988)