Classic Study: Rosenhan (1973) Flashcards
What was the aim of Rosenhan’s study?
To see whether psychiatrists could tell the difference between those who are sane and insane
What was the IV, DV and type of experiment used in Rosenhan’s study?
IV - symptoms that the pseudo-patients reported
DV - whether they were admitted to hospitals and the diagnosis they were given
Field experiment used - involved participant observation too
What was the sample like in Rosenhan’s study?
12 different hospitals in the USA across 5 different states
Some hospitals were old, some new, some understaffed, some were research hospitals
Who were the pseudo-patients in Rosenhan’s study?
8 sane people including:
- some psychologists
- a painter
- a housewife
Consisted of 5 men and 3 women
How did the pseudo-patients gain admission to the hospitals in Rosenhan’s study?
Phoned the hospital asking for an appointment
On arrival, reported symptoms of hearing voices - ‘empty, hollow and thud’
Gave false names and jobs but all other details were correct
How did the pseudo-patients collect data in Rosenhan’s study?
Took part in ward activities, speaking to patients and staff as they might ordinarily
Collected data by keeping a diary of their observations in a notepad
How did the pseudo-patients carry out their observation of the behaviour of staff towards patients in Rosenhan’s study?
In 4 of the hospitals the pseudo-patients had to approach a member of staff and ask a simple question like:
-‘when will I be discharged?’
Then noted down the staff member’s response
Comparison was made to Stanford University students asking a professor a simple question
What were the results of Rosenhan’s study?
Pseudo-patients remained in hospital for between 7 and 52 days - average time was 19 days
Overall, 2,100 tables were prescribed - only 2 tablets actually taken, the rest flushed down the toilet
35 out of 118 genuine patients recognised that the pseudo-patients were fake
Pseudo-patients normal behaviour was often seen as aspects of their supposed illness
88% of the nurses ignored the patient when patients questioned when they would be discharged
What was the conclusion of Rosenhan’s study?
Psychiatrists were unable to tell the difference between sane and insane patients
Type 2 error - labelling a health person as being sick
What was the secondary study in Rosenhan’s study?
One hospital was alerted to the first study and told some pseudo-patients would try and gain admission over the next few months
Staff had to rate on a scale, how likely each patient was to be genuine or not
193 patients visited the hospital during this time
What were the results from the secondary study in Rosenhan’s study?
10% of patients were believed to be pseudo-patients
None of the patients were actually pseudo-patients
Type 1 error - where you label a sick person as being healthy
What are the strengths of Rosenhan’s study?
Ecological validity
Population validity
Validity of findings
Collection of primary data
Validity of diagnosis
What are the weaknesses of Rosenhan’s study?
Subjectivity
Population validity
Validity of findings
Reliability of findings
Integrity of research
Why is ecological validity a strength of Rosenhan’s study?
Field experiment using participant observation in a real life setting of a mental institution/hospital. This is a strength because it increase the ecological validity making them more generalisable to real life settings.
Why is population validity a strength of Rosenhan’s study?
Used staff and patients in 12 different hospitals across 5 different states in America. This is a strength because this allows the results to be generalised to other mental institutions in the USA increasing the population validity
Why is validity of findings a strength of Rosenhan’s study?
Collected both quantitative and qualitative data from observations. This is a strength because qualitative data provides insight into behaviour of the staff and patients, increasing validity of the findings
Why is the collection of primary data a strength of Rosenhan’s study?
Pseudo-patients collected primary data from first-hand observations of staff and patients in psychiatric hospitals. This is a strength because data was collected directly by pseudo-patients meaning it’s up to date and could assess the accuracy of the DSM which increases the validity of the findings
Why is the validity of diagnosis as strength of Rosenhan’s study?
Highlighted issues surrounding the basic procedures used for admitting patients to the hospitals and problems with the DSM. This is a strength because it led to development of an updated DSM resulting in improvements in procedures used to diagnose mental illnesses which increased the validity of diagnosis
Why is subjectivity a weakness of Rosenhan’s study?
Data was collected using a participant observation where the pseudo-patients wrote notes on their observations. This is a weakness because the notes will represent the pseudo-patients own subjective interpretation and could lead to bias and decrease the validity
Why is population validity a weakness of Rosenhan’s study?
The sample studied was all American hospitals and would only be representative of hospital practices with the American healthcare system. This is a weakness because the findings may have been limited generalisability beyond American hospitals to other cultures and findings may be criticised for being ethnocentric. This would decrease population validity.
Why is the validity of findings a weakness of Rosenhan’s study?
Experiences of the pseudo-patients could have differed from that of real patients who didn’t have the comfort of knowing the diagnosis was false. This is a weakness because their hospital experience would be less authentic and not expose the pseudo-patients to the same kind of depersonalisation that genuine patients experience. This would decrease validity of the findings.
Why is the reliability of findings a weakness of Rosenhan’s study?
The pseudo-patients were operating as individual researchers in different hospitals and having different experiences. This is a weakness because it wasn’t possible to have a standardised procedure across the hospitals and this would decrease the reliability of the findings.
Why is the integrity of research a weakness of Rosenhan’s study?
Rosenhan deliberately misled hospital staff into believing that pseudo-patients were insane and providing false names and symptoms on admission. Staff were unaware their behaviour was being observed. This is a weakness because researchers deceived the hospital staff and patients lowering the integrity of the research. However, if staff had known about the pseudo-patients the results would have been compromised which was shown in the secondary study.
