The role of the participant

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The role of the participant

• Lauralee Flores

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Outline

• Examine the role of the participant and
  experimenter
• Research Method Considerations
• The convenient participant
• Selection bias
• Nonresponse
• Causation from correlation

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Participant and Experimenter

• The social psychology of the psychological
  experiment
• Role expectations
• The agreement of the participant
• The shared assumption of utility

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Participant and Experimenter

• Some examples
• The psychologically noxious, meaningless, boring
  task
• More frustrating still the card
• Continued for hours with relatively little sign
  of overt hostility.

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Participant and Experimenter

• What is the motivating factor?
• the hope and expectation that the study in which
  they are participating will in some material way
  contribute to science and perhaps ultimately to
  human welfare in general (Orne, 778).
• The good subject

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The curious participant

• Ascertain the true purpose of the experiment
• Demand Characteristics (all the little cues)

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Outline

• Examine the role of the participant and
  experimenter
• Research Method Considerations
• The convenient participant
• Selection bias
• Nonresponse
• Causation from correlation

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The convenient participant

• The sample of sophomores
• Generalizable?
• Age
• Occupation
• Nonrandom selection
• A high response rate is no guarantee of a good
  sample (Blair Zinkham, 4).

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Selection Bias

• Recognize pre-existing groups and their trends
• Psychotherapy was one of the most replicated
  predictors of subsequent suicides and attempts.
• Hospitalization and mortality
• Parental assistance with homework associated with
  lower achievement

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Nonresponse

• What is it?
• Internal Validity
• Generalizability

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Causation from Correlation

• other variables
• Premature conclusions can adversely affect
  clinical preferences
• Spanking vs. Time-out
• Confirmation Bias
• Alternative Explanations

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Causation from Correlation

• The key to making valid causal inferences is to
  systematically rule out plausible alternative
  interpretations of the relevant data (Larzelere,
  Kuhn Johnson, 297).

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Outline/Summary

• Examine the role of the participant and
  experimenter
• Research Method Considerations
• The convenient participant
• Selection bias
• Nonresponse
• Causation from correlation

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The End

• Orne, Martin T., (1962)
• Larzelere, Kuhn Johnson (2004)
• Blair Zinkhan (2006)