Demand Characteristics and Investigator Effects Flashcards
What are demand characteristics?
-cues in the experimental situation that makes the participant aware of what the researcher wants to find, or how participants are expected to behave
What can demand characteristics lead to?
the participant changing their behaviour
What participant reactivity demand characteristics create?
-Trying to guess the purpose of the research and acting in a way that they feel is helpful of unhelpful to the researcher
-Acting nervously/out of character because of being in a research situation and are worried about being evaluated
-Displaying Social desirability bias, wishing themselves to be seen in the most favourable light possible
What are the ways to reduce Demand Characteristics?
-Single-blind technique
-Use deception and distractor questions
What is a single blind technique?
where the participant has no idea of the aims and/or which experimental group they are in
What are investigator effects?
-Any unintentional influences of a researcher’s behaviour or characteristics on the performance of the participants
What are examples of investigator effects?
-Physical characteristics (e.g age, gender and ethnic origin)
-Behaviour such as verbal communication (e.g. time of voice, accent), or non-verbal communication (e.g. smiling, eye contact)
-Expectations about the outcome of a study
What are the ways to reduce investigator effects?
-Use a double-blind technique
-Use standardised instructions
what is a double blind technique
Neither the participant, nor the investigator is aware of the true aims or details of the investigation, so have no expectations.
What do the use of standardised instructions do?
-this decreases the possibility that the investigator can communicate expectations
-researchers can be trained to use a neutral tone for reading instructions.
-For interviews are standardised script can be used
