Hi Paul et al. ...not sure I'd describe Milgram's parametric studies as an
experiment per se, though, because Milgram recruited different groups of Ss
each time on a rolling basis...admittedly using the same or at least very
similar ad (perhaps Thomas Blass, whom I believe is on this listserv, can
verify).
But he didn't strictly randomly assign Ss to conditions, as I understand
it, as much as continue recruiting Ss from the community with different
variations each time - under the rough assumption, I suppose, that pre-existing
systematic differences across time in Ss were minimal. So the design (assuming
we're talking about the various studies en masse, the ones he published as a
collected set in Human Relations in 1965) seems quasi-experimental to me,
although I would assume he regarded it as an approximation to an experiment
given certain assumptions.
Again, perhaps Thomas Blass or others on the listserv can correct me if I'm
wrong in my understanding.
....Scott
Scott O. Lilienfeld, Ph.D.
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(slightly modified)
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Brandon [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, February 04, 2010 4:27 PM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: Re: [tips] Milgram - what kind of a study was it?
If I recall correctly, it was a functional analysis similar to many
drug studies, where the effects of varying dosages (in this case
shock levels) on some measure of behavior was observed.
And yes, in some drub studies animal subjects are allowed to adjust
their own dosages.
So it was an experiment in the sense that all conditions except one
(shock level) were held constant.
The problem seems to be that the act of manipulation involved the
subjects' own behavior.
What makes it an experiment rather than a case study is the fact that
a standard protocol was used across a number of subjects.
On Feb 4, 2010, at 3:07 PM, Michael Britt wrote:
> Someone on my blog asked what kind of study was the Milgram study.
> In the first phase of Milgram's studies,nothing was being
> manipulated - Milgram was just observing the subjects to see what
> would happen. In later phases of the study he started manipulating
> the presence or absence of the "experimenter", the number of
> "subjects" in the room with the "learner" and others, so at that
> point I'd say the studies became experiments. So what would you
> call the first phase of the study - an observational study?
>
> Michael
>
> Michael Britt
> [email protected]
> www.thepsychfiles.com
> Twitter: mbritt
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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Paul Brandon
Emeritus Professor of Psychology
Minnesota State University, Mankato
[email protected]
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