Milgram Methodological Issues Flashcards
Data collected
Quantitative - % of ppts who obeyed (65% obeyed) this was good as can be compared if study is repeated in a different country
Qualitative - descriptions of how teacher behaved (sweating, trembling) this was useful in telling us about the feelings of the teacher - the data shows they obeyed but without pleasure and in discomfort
Informed consent
Consented but didn’t count as they were decided
Deception
They were deceived of the true purpose of the study (told it was a study on the effects of punishment on memory) so they didn’t give consent
After the study they were told the true aims
Right to withdraw
They were able to and 35% of them did but what the experimenter said to them made them feel like they couldn’t and they got paid
Protection from harm
They were harmed (showed signs of nervous laughter and had seizures) so they were under stress
However ppts who suffered most were examined by a psychiatrist a year later and most the ppts said they were glad to have taken part
Internal validity
High levels as he measured what he intended to measure
Ecological validity
Low as in artificial setting (lab setting in a uni) and the task wasn’t an everyday occurrence (give electric shocks to someone)
Population validity
Low as he only looked at men so it wasn’t a true representation of the population and it was a biased sample (women may act different) but milgram looked at men because he wanted to know why the holocaust happened
Was it reliable? Was the sample big enough?
Procedure was replicable n milgram repeated it 40 times with different participants. The way in which it was recorded would have led to everyone seeing the same results for each participant
Large enough sample without it being unmanageable in terms of cost and time
What type of participants were in the sample?
Men aged 20-50 from wc and mc backgrounds to reflect the people who worked in death camps in nazi Germany - this is so he can compare them, but they were all taken from same part in the country and didn’t include women so his findings are only true of people in the study
What sampling technique was used?
Self-selected method so his participants responded to advertisement and chose to be involved. This was the best way for him to reach his target population
Research method used
Not an experiment as no manipulation of the IV
In a lab so EV were controlled for procedure was standardised so it was replicable
