Chaney - Core Study

Question 1

Area?

Answer 1

Developmental area

Question 2

What is the key theme?

Answer 2

External influences on children’s behaviour.

Question 3

Assumption 1?

Answer 3

Behaviour develops with age and experience.

Question 4

Assumption 2?

Answer 4

Behaviour develops through nature and nurture.

Question 5

What is the background summary of this study?

Answer 5

Non-compliance:
-Patients who don’t follow medical advice.
-This experiment looked particularly at whether young children with asthma (respiratory illness) and their parents administer the medication at the correct dosage and times recommended by their doctors.
Reasons for non-compliance in children:
-Ignorance, fear, boredom, forgetfulness, apathy.
Operant conditioning:
-Learning by consequence such as repeating behaviours that have been positively reinforced. In this case attempts were made to improve compliance through positive reinforcement.

Question 6

What is the aim of this study?

Answer 6

To test whether use of positive reinforcement via the Funhaler could improve medical compliance in young asthmatics, compared to use of conventional asthma inhaler with no additional features.

Question 7

What is the type of experiment used in this study?

Answer 7

Field experiment with self-report.

Question 8

What is the IV of this study?

Answer 8

Device used (normal inhaler vs. funhaler).

Question 9

What is the DV of this study?

Answer 9

Medical compliance measured through parental responses to questionnaire.

Question 10

What is the strength of the method used in this study?

Answer 10

Realistic behaviour, i.e. completing questionnaire from home.

Question 11

What is the weakness of the method used in this study?

Answer 11

Bias of self-report, i.e. lying about child using Funhaler.

Question 12

What sampling type was used in this study?

Answer 12

Random sampling.

Question 13

What are the features of this sample?

Answer 13

-32 children (22 male, 10 female).
-Age range 1.5 - 6 years, mean age 3.2 years old.
-Average duration of asthma is 2.2 years.
-Patients from 7 local paediatrician clinics in Perth,Australia.

Question 14

What is the procedure in this study?

Answer 14

1.Parents were contacted, briefed on aim of study.
2.Parents have informed consent (not shown Funhaler at this point) in case it influenced their decision.
3.Interviewed one parent via a questionnaire (containing a structured closed question) about existing device used by their child (compliance).

Question 15

What are the conclusions for this study?

Answer 15

The funhaler and it’s use of positive reinforcement techniques improved levels of medical compliance in young asthmatics.
1.The use of the funhaler could possibly improve clinical outcomes, such as lowering rates of admissions to hospitals for asthma attacks.
2.Can improve overall health of children,self-reinforcement.

Question 16

What ethical guidelines were adhered to in this study?

Answer 16

Informed consent:
-From parents (under 16’s)
Protection from harm:
-The device was designed to administer a satisfactory level of medication.
Deception:
-Parents briefed re-aim.
Confidentiality/Privacy
-All responses were anonymous
Right to Withdraw
Debrief

Question 17

What ethical guidelines were broken in this study?

Answer 17

Fully informed consent:
-Parents didn’t see funhaler.

Question 18

What are the applications in this study?

Answer 18

-The funhaler itself is a successful device to improve inhaler use amongst young people.
-The potential for other age-related techniques to be created to improve compliance for other medications.

Question 19

How does the core study link to the area?

Answer 19

Assumption 1:
-People develop with age and experience.
Link:
-Chaney showed that children who experienced the reinforcement of the funhaler would change their behaviour.Plus we know that adults would not appreciate the same reward.
Evidence:
-68% of children reported pleasure with funhaler vs. 10% with standard inhaler.

Question 20

How does the core study link to the area?

Answer 20

Assumption 2:
-Behaviour change is a result of nature and nurture.
Link:
-Nurture, operant conditioning does work.Nature, the interest of the children in spinning disc/whistle.
Evidence:
-68% of children reported pleasure with the funhaler vs. 10% with standard inhaler.

Question 21

How does the core study link to the key theme?

Answer 21

-Showed that operant conditioning techniques i.e. the funhaler are effective in improving medical compliance amongst young asthmatics.
-Operant conditioning was considered an outdated,disused approach and this brought it to the cutting edge of behaviour modification.

Question 22

What are the strengths and weaknesses of ethnocentrism?

Answer 22

-Only done in Australia so can’t generalise to other countries.
-Different cultures might not find the ‘Funhaler’ as rewarding.

Question 23

What are the strengths and weaknesses of population validity?

Answer 23

+Random sampling ensures there is no bias.
+Own home, own lives as normal.
-Funhalers may only appeal to this age range (mean 3.2 years old).
-All from Perth,Australia
-Only 32 participants (small sample)
-Gender - both

Question 24

What are the strengths and weaknesses of ecological validity?

Answer 24

+Own home, own lives as normal.

Question 25

What are the strengths and weaknesses of reliability?

Answer 25

+Standardised
-Field experiment so possible extraneous variables.
-Parents may interpret questions differently.
-Done at home so control.

Question 26

What are the strengths and weaknesses of internal validity?

Answer 26

+Repeated measures design - controlled participant variables in both conditions.
-Self report measure - may have shown social desirability.
-Field experiment - lack of control over variables.
-Cause and effect - novelty may wear off, not longitudinal, can’t guarantee this.

Question 27

What are the controls in this study?

Answer 27

-Same funhaler
-All given same instructions
-Same phone call