Research methods - Demand characteristics and investigators effects Flashcards
What is researcher bias?
The risk that an experimenter might affect the results of the study. This may occur because of something they say or do (body language) or it may be a result of their own expectations. For example, if the interview appears disinterested in an interview then the interviewee may change their responses.
How can researcher bias and the placebo effect be accounted for?
Using double-blind trials
What happens in a single-blind study?
One of the participant groups are unaware as to which group they are in (experiment or control group) while the researcher who developed the experiment knows which participants are in each group. This controls the participants’ expectations
What happens in a double-blind study?
Both the researchers and participants are blind to which group the participants are assigned to i.e experimental or control group.
Why are single and blind studies useful?
They allow control for both experimenter and participant expectations.
When does the placebo effect happen?
When people’s expectations or beliefs influence or determine their experience in a given situation. In other words, simply expecting something to happen can actually make it happen. Commonly described in terms of testing the effectiveness of a new mediation
What is an example of the placebo effect in relation to testing drugs?
In the case of testing a drug for depression, a participant taking a pill that they expect will improve their mood might feel better simply because they took the pill and not because of any drug actually contained in the pill.
How is the placebo effect controlled?
One group will receive the real drug and one group will receive a sugar pill and neither the participant nor the experimenter will know which pill they took. The improvements can then be tested between the groups and the control group with the placebo effect can be treated as a baseline.
When do demand characteristics occur?
When the participant guesses the aim of the research or realises they are being observed and changes their behaviour accordingly.
What is an investigation that could been affected by demand characteristics?
In Milgram’s (1963) research, if participants had known the true aim, demand characteristics would have likely confounded the results, as participants would have been unlikely to obey .
When does social desirability occur?
When the participant changed their behaviour in order to look good. E,g if a teacher asks a student how much they revised over the weekend they will give what they think is a socially acceptable answer and portrays them in the best possible light.
