Pilot studies

Question 1

what is a pilot study?

Answer 1

a small-scale trial run of a study to test any aspects of the design, with a view to making improvements. changes to design and method can be made in the light of this. Pilot studies should improve the quality of research. the findings yielded from a pilot study are irrelevant.

Question 2

from carrying out a pilot study, what can researchers test?

Answer 2

• ensure that the extraneous variables and confounding variables are being controlled
• ensure the hypothesis is testable (operationalised variables)
• ethical issues have been addressed
• avoid demand characteristics
• the suitability of the experimental design
• the procedure
• the sample used.