X Developmental - Kohlberg X

Question 1

background

Answer 1

Kohlberg waned to base his theory of moral development on Piaget’s idea

Question 2

aim

Answer 2

to show his research supports his stage theory of moral development

Question 3

research method

Answer 3

longitudinal study (over time)

Question 4

sample

Answer 4

75 American boys

aged 10-16 (up to 22-28)

Question 5

procedure

Answer 5

.Over 12 years he studied 75 American boys from the age of 10-16
.At 3 year intervals he would show the boys a hypothetical moral dilema, all deliberately philisophical
.Answers were linked to 25 basic moral concepts and categories 1-6

Question 6

cross cultural research

Answer 6

.Kohlberg collected data from:
Taiwan, U.K, Turkey, Canada, Malaysia and Mexico
.This helped ensure his study was not ethnocentric

Question 7

Conclusions

Answer 7

.As people grow up their thinking develops in stages
.Thinking becomes more sophisticated
.Invariant - everyone follows the same order of stages
.Not everyone reaches the final stage

Question 8

Ethics criticism

Answer 8

debrief

protection from harm - distressing questions

Question 9

Ethics defences

Answer 9

Informed consent
Right to withdraw
Confidentiality
Deception

Question 10

Internal reliability

Answer 10

yes:
same moral dilema
same questions

Question 11

external reliability

Answer 11

yes- 75 boys is a lot

Question 12

internal validity (construct)

Answer 12

No- could be measuring intelligence or linguistic understanding
No- participants could lie

Question 13

external validity (population)

Answer 13

yes- not ethnocentric (different countries used)
no- androcentric
no- outdated sample (1950/60s)
no- didn’t study all cultures e.g African cultures

Question 14

external validity (ecological)

Answer 14

No- may lie to seem like a better person

Yes- unlikely to want to seem socially desirable to the researcher