The Relationship between Researchers and Participants

Question 1

Demand Characteristics

Answer 1

• Features in research which enable participants to guess what the study is about and what’s expected of them
  > Guess the purpose of the research - try to please the researcher by giving them the ‘right’ results.
  > Guess the purpose of the research - try to annoy the researcher by giving them the wrong results
  > Act unnaturally out of nervousness for fear of being thought ‘abnormal’.
  > Act unnaturally in order to ‘look good’ (social desirability bias).

Question 2

How to reduce Demand Characteristics

Answer 2

• ‘single blind procedure’.
  > Participants have no idea which condition of the study they’re in
• Try and make the participant calm so they act naturally

Question 3

Investigator (Experimenter) Effects

Answer 3

• Investigators may inadvertently influence the results in their research
  > Certain physical characteristics of the investigator may influence results.
  > eg. More comfortable opening up to somebody of the same age and gender as yourself.
  > Other less obvious personal characteristics of the investigator
  > eg. Accent, tone of voice, or non verbal communication (eye contact, smiling)
  > The investigator may also be biased in their interpretation of the data

Question 4

How to reduce Investigator (Experimenter) Effects

Answer 4

• ‘double blind procedure’
  > Neither the participant nor the investigator knows which condition the participant is in
  > Prevents the investigator from inadvertently giving the participant clues