Methodological Issues Baron Cohen

Question 1

Data

Answer 1

Quantitative answers out of 25 on eyes task so comparisons could be made, qualitative data would’ve been good asking why the ppts chose the words that they did

Question 2

Ethical guidelines (consent, harm, withdraw and debrief)

Answer 2

Assumed they gave consent but unsure what they consented too - assumed they weren’t told Bc it would’ve meant telling autistic ppl that they have problems
Ppts may have been concerned they were giving the wrong answers
Ppts could just stop answering questions
Not sure if they were debriefed but would’ve been hard to do this for autistic ppts as it meant explaining something they don’t understand

Question 3

Internal validity

Answer 3

EV’s were controlled for
Control groups made it clear that it was autism causing the problems
Order effects controlled for as ppts took tests in different orders - quiet room which got rid of EV’s eg noise
Ppts were given words to choose from do they weren’t really choosing the mental state, choice between 2 words meant there was 50:50 change, words opposite so was easier

Question 4

Ecological validity

Answer 4

Eye task ecologically valid as in the real world u have to find out people’s emotions
May have been some EV’s as everyone took it in diff places, lighting, temperature

Question 5

Reliability

Answer 5

Normal - 50 ppl so could establish effect

Tourette and autism group too small

Question 6

Sample

Answer 6

All from UK gathered through a range of sampling techniques

Question 7

Ethnocentrism

Answer 7

Both genetic disorders so their culture doesn’t matter, results apply for everyone
However, may be variations between cultures in amount of experience they have at reading emotions through eyes - living in Muslim women were the niqab

Question 8

Research method

Answer 8

Quasi

Two control groups helped to show that it was autism causing the problems