kholberg

Question 1

what was an ethical issue that was in kholbergs research and how did he handle it

Answer 1

ethical issue- vulnerable participants, they’re vulnerable as they cannot consent for themselves, he gained information consent from parents

valid consent
From the ppts parents as he used boys that were under the age of 16

Question 2

kholberg- what sample was used and why

Answer 2

androcentric- less confounding variables due to gender not being an issue, allows more in depth data on males
however, findings cannot be generalised to females.

Question 3

evaluate the methodology used by kholberg (1968) in his research
“the child as a moral philosopher”

Answer 3

use of interviews, allowed kohlburg to ask supplementary questions if necessary
investigating children so they may be less able to complete written self-reports methods
-may be more susceptible to researcher bias

Question 4

evaluate the sample used by kohlberg in his research
“the child as a moral philosopher” (6)

Answer 4

sample age ranged from 10-28 during research
youngest boy was 10 at the start of the research, little evidence base for how moral development occurs before that age

all male sample group
unable to generalise to females from kohlbergs findings.

cultural diversity in the sample group
the main findings are based on the 75 american bigs and men interviewed by kohlberg

large range of locations so more generalisable results. however, different cultures may have different veiws towards morality
eg. turkish may have different veiws towards laws ans relationships than people from taiwan

Question 5

evaluate the methodology used by kohlberg in his research “the child as a moral philosopher” (6)

Answer 5

use of interviews
allows kohlberg to ask alternative questions if necessary
investigating children, so they may be less able to complete written self-reports methods.
may be more susceptible to researcher bias

use of longitudinal method
allowed kohlberg to track the actual development of the boys over 12 years
more likely to suffer from sample attrition

use of hypothetical moral dilemmas
explaining what the boys say they would do, not what they actually would do
may not be relevant to the ppts life
allowed for an objective comparison across the sample group
different hypothetical moral dilemmas used with different participants ; diff questions used with children of diff ages

use of cross-cultural comparison
allows assessment if moral development is universal or culturally specific
differences in questions asked to those in taiwan

Question 6

explain the ethical issues that may arise in developmental psychological research such as kohlberg research “ the child as a moral philosopher

Answer 6

risk of stress, anxiety humiliation or pain: procedures create high levels of anxiety in lots and may cause many negative feelings eg some of holbergs younger patient as young as 10 exposed to exposed to emotionally challenging hypothetical moral dilemmas. they may not understand the debreif or nature of the research

lack of valid consent infant and small child ppts or indeed very elderly ppts may not understand the aim or procedures involved in this research even with consent from adult is this appropriate ethical behaviour

Question 7

validity issues in kholbergs

Answer 7

investigator bias- kohlberg may have wanted to prove that there are stages of morality, therefore he mayve displayed investigator bias in his interpretation of the boys answers by making them fit what he believed in terms of morality

interval validity- the boys may have shown social desirability as they may want to impress the researcher and choose a moral decision and not what they truly believe

population validity- only males were studied therefore the research lacked population validity

ecological validity -