Experiments Flashcards
What are the practical problems of experiments?
Society would be impossible to control
Cannot be used to discover the past
Small scale
What are the ethical problems of experiments?
Lack of conformed consent
Deception- Milgram and the electric shocks. Authority.
Harm- Milgram’s study caused sweating, stuttering and 3 seizures
What is the Hawthorne effect?
Where the subjects know they are being studied and begin to behave differently as a result, undermining the study’s validity. Comes from Hawthorne plant worker’s productivity. This happens in experiments
What is a field experiment?
Takes place in the subject’s natural surroundings
Those involved are not aware that they are being studied. Eg Rosenhan’s schizophrenic experiment. Can be unethical
What is the comparative method?
Thought experiment. Eg Durkheim’s le suicide. It avoids artificiality, can study past events and is not unethical.
Give an example of an experiment in context with education?
Charkin with a sample of uni students who were to teach a 10 year old boy. One third was told he was motivated and has a high IQ, one third low IQ and no motivation, one third no information. The ones that were told he was clever gave more eye contact and encouragement. Raises ethical concerns
Give an example of a field experiment?
Rosenthal and Jacobson’s ‘Pygmalion in the classroom’. Unethical- some held back educationally because of the study. Teachers were deceived
