Experiments

Sociology: AQA GCSE, topic 6.1.15

Experiments are a research method that are used to test a hypothesis.

Experiments are used to test a hypothesis (a testable statement/an educated assertion that we do not know is true).
To do this researchers must control the variables that might result in biased data.
The aim of the experiment is to identify whether there is a causal relationship, i.e. whether one variable is causing a specific effect.
The tools that are used in order to conduct an experiment are usually observation and recording of the observed behaviours.

Experiments can be of great importance for the researchers but they easily raise ethical issues. For example:
- Stanford and Milgram's experiments could cause harm to the participants.
- Zimbardo’s physical and psychological harm and Milgram’s psychological harm.
- Milgram had to deceive his participants to ensure that his data wouldn’t be biased.

The Stanford Prison Experiment (Zimbardo)

Zimbardo wanted to see whether guards behaved violently because of their personalities, or because of other variables such as their environment.

Zimbardo converted a cellar in Stanford University into a ‘prison’ and asked students to participate.
He excluded participants that might have psychological or drug problems.
Participants were randomly allocated to one of two groups:
Prisoners.
Guards.

The prisoners were “arrested” at their homes and taken to ”prison” during the night.
Guards acted as authority figures by bossing the prisoners around, making them do inhumane things including cleaning toilets with their bare hands.
The prisoners were extremely obedient, no matter how extreme the guards' demands.

Guards started exhibiting violent behaviour when some inmates dared to question their authority.
The prisoners started exhibiting signs of distress.
The experiment came to an end within six days even though it was supposed to last two weeks.

Merely a few weeks before the experiment, the same "guards" would never have been violent to another individual.
This led Zimbardo to conclude that it is our environment that influences our behaviour.

Milgram wanted to find out what was more influential: obedience to authority or one's conscience.

Milgram was influenced by the Holocaust where war criminals didn’t accept responsibility by claiming that they were just following orders.

Milgram conducted his study at Yale University where he advertised his experiment as one focusing on learning.
Participants thought they were randomly allocated the role of the "teacher" or the "learner".
What the participants didn’t know was that they were always the ‘teacher’ as the ‘learner’ was a member of the research team.

The "learner" was attached to an "electric shock generator" whilst the "teacher" was in another room asking the questions.
If the ”learner” answered the question incorrectly the “teacher” had in front of him buttons clearly stating “slight shock” to “danger: severe shock” and had to use them to punish the ”learner” for not knowing the answer.

The machine was fake and the ”learner” always gave wrong answers on purpose.
None of this information was disclosed/revealed to the “teacher”.
If the “teacher” refused to give the participant the shock then an authority figure in a white coat (an actor) would probe him to continue.

65% of participants obeyed the authority figure even though they thought they were harming the “learner”.
The reason this happens is that the majority of people are brought up to obey authority without questioning it.

In order to ensure that data remains unbiased, researchers often have to deceive their participants. What type of issue is this known as?
How long did Zimbardo's experiment end up lasting?
What were the roles that participants were allocated to in Zimbardo's experiment?
What two roles were participants told there would be?
What percentage of participants obeyed the authority figure to shock the "learner" even though they thought they were harming them?