Chaney's study Flashcards
What is compliance in Chaney’s study?
Using the inhaler correctly
What is operant conditioning?
Learning as a result of consequences and reinforcement
What is positive reinforcement?
Rewarding people for positive behaviour - leads to continuation of behaviour
What is negative reinforcement?
Behaviour is reinforced by avoiding a potential punishment
What were the aims in Chaney’s study?
To see if the use of the funhaler increases compliance rates in children
To see if the quality of use is improved with the funhaler
How was the sample obtained in Chaney’s study?
They were recruited on a random basis from seven paediatrician or GP clinics
What was the sample in Chaney’s study?
32 children from Australia, aged between 1.5 and 6 years.
The mean and median age was 3.2 but 75% of children were above 3
There were 22 boys and 10 girls, with an average duration of having asthma for 2.2 years
What research method was used in Chaney’s study?
repeated measures field experiment
What was the IV in Chaney’s study?
The use of the Funhaler (they used normal inhalers previous to the study)
What was the DV in Chaney’s study?
The questionnaires given to parents, measuring:
The children’s behaviour (how often the children took their medication and any problems they had with the delivery
The attitudes of the parents and children towards the medication
What was the operationalised positive reinforcement in Chaney’s study?
The toy ball spins more and the whistle is louder when the child breathes correctly through the inhaler
What was the operationalised negative reinforcement in Chaney’s study?
reduces anxiety and stress caused - children and parents know when it is being used correctly because of whistle/ spinning toy
What were the conclusions in Chaney’s study?
The funhaler ed to an increase in the use and the correct use of the inhaler
Parents were less likely to give up and resort to a nebuliser when using the funhaler
What was the initial data collected (before main study time) in Chaney’s study??
The parents were given a questionnaire about their current inhaler which included a consent form for them to sign
What was the data collected during Chaney’s study (main 2 weeks) itself?
At various points during the two weeks, on an ad hoc basis, the parents were contacted and asked if they had used the funhaler on the previous day
What were the parents asked to do in Chaney’s study?
Use the funhaler with their child for 2 weeks, and fill out several questionnaires
What was the final data collected in Chaney’s study?
At the end of the two weeks, the parents again had to fill out a questionnaire about the behaviour and attitude towards the funhaler of both the children and the parents.
In Chaney’s study how did the percentage of parents who always successfully medicated their child change between the old inhaler and the funhaler?
10% with normal inhaler to 73% with the funhaler
What percentage of parents disliked the funhaler in Chaney’s study?
0%
what percentage of parents were completely happy with the funhaler in Chaney’s study?
61%
In Chaney’s study how did the percentage of children who achieved 4 or more breath cycles per delivery change between the old inhaler and the funhaler?
50% with old one to 80% with the funhaler
Is Chaney’s study ethnocentric?
Yes, it is very ethnocentric because it is generalisable only to Australian children with asthma
How does Chaney’s study relate to the developmental area?
The change in behaviour from the normal inhaler to the fun haler
How does Chaney’s study link to the key theme of external influences on children’s behaviour?
Operant conditioning - whistle and ball on funhaler which is positive reinforcement from the environment
Why, in terms of ethics, was it better than Chaney used a repeated measures design then an independent measures design?
Because he believed that the funhaler would improve correct use of inhaler, so may improve health of children, so those who didn’t get the funhaler would be disadvantages
Did Chaney’s study have Internal reliability?
Yes because the questionnaire was standardised, but no because the participants did it all in their own homes and we have no proof that the questionnaires were filled out honestly.
Did Chaney’s study have External reliability?
32- children wasn’t amazing, but also not awful and there wasn’t really a consistent effect.
Did Chaney’s study have internal validity?
Not really, it might have been measuring social desirability and there was a lack of control as it was a field experiment
There are also inaccuracies with data - may mean lack of participant’s understanding of questions in their responses
Did Chaney’s study have external validity?
Lol pop validity - difficulty to apply to all cultures and other age ranges
high ecological validity - usual setting at home
What are the strengths of Chaney’s sample?
Can be generalised to all Australian children of these ages - there was a wide range of ages and as breathing is generalisable
What are the weaknesses of Chaney’s sample?
Not that many children in the study and they were Australian children so it was ethnocentric and not necessarily an appropriately sample
What is the strength of using a field experiment in Chaney’s study?
means it tested their day-to-day life rather than in a lab - high ecological validity
What are the weaknesses of using a field experiment in Chaney’s study?
means that they cant control the use of the funhaler and is difficult to know when /how children behaved
accuracy
What are the strengths of using self report in Chaney’s study?
Easy and convenient - very ecologically valid for the participants own environment
Incredibly standardised - qualitative data - comparable
What was the strength of using forced choice questions in Chaney’s study?
Quick/easy to collect data for researchers
What were the weaknesses of using forced choice questions in Chaney’s study?
Parents might not be certain about what their answers would be
Very open to standard response set answers
no qualitative data - we don’t know why
What was the strength of a repeated measures design in Chaney’s study?
Less people in sample so easier for researchers to collect data
How has Chaney’s study changed our understanding of external influences on children’s behaviour?
Chaney has added to our understanding by suggesting that children learn through operant conditioning (positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement) and not just through social learning theory
How hasn’t Chaney’s study changed our understanding of external influences on children’s behaviour?
We already knew about rewards/operant conditioning from skinner box 1932
Role models/ imitation/learning from Bandura
How has Chaney’s study changed our understanding of cultural diversity?
Bandura only used American children in his study while Chaney used Australian children. This adds to our understanding because it suggests that Australian children can be influenced by external influences as much as American children can be
How hasn’t Chaney’s study changed our understanding of cultural diversity?
However both studies were conducted in similar western cultures. The findings may not necessarily apply to other cultural values are more varied
What are two similarities between Chaney’s and Bandura’s study?
Both focused learning of behaviour in children (children learn through role models (bandura) and children learn through reinforcement (Chaney))
Both studies focused on extrenal influences on behaviour from a behaviourist perspective (focus on social learning theory (Bandura) focus on operant conditioning (Chaney))
What are two differences between Chaney’s and Bandura’s study?
they used different research methods (independent groups lab experiment observation (Bandura) They used a repeated measures field experiment self report (Chaney)
What the studies focused on - different areas of behaviourist perspective (Focused on social learning theory (Bandura) looked at operant conditioning (Chaney))
