Vocabulary:
Hawthorne effect (p356) the confounding effect on a study caused by subjects who behave differently because they believe they are being watched. This can limit the generalizability of the study to those people who believe they are part of a study.
When I was being observed by my principal, the students thought they were the ones being observed, and behaved well. The Hawthorne effect worked on them, while I was the one being judged. Because of this, the principal did not get a “true” view of how my classroom behaved on a “normal” day.
Reflection:
I learned that there are a lot of interesting and informative studies that are not good research studies. From doing the article critiques, I became aware of all the omissions the researchers made. I found very informative and thorough studies that represented a lot of work, but because of vague or missing hypothesis, didn’t make any strong statements. I am wondering if any study can be truly generalized with so many confounding variables.
