Using Deception in Research Studies
In Rosenhan’s study; “On Being Sane In Insane Places”, Rosenhan seeks to examine the validity and reliability of psychiatric diagnosis and the effects of labeling. Rosenhan also aims to find out whether; “the salient characteristics that lead to diagnoses reside in the patients themselves or in the environments and contexts in which the observers find them?” (Rosenhan, 1973, p.3) In other words, Rosenhan wants to test the ability of psychiatrists and other hospital staff, to correctly distinguish people who have a mental illness from those who don’t, and investigate whether a diagnosis is derived from a patient’s mental state itself or, if the environment the patient is placed in effects how the diagnosis is made.
To do this, Rosenhan uses deception. Through this approach, 8 pseudopatients are admitted into 12 different hospitals by simply falsely reporting hearing voices, thus deceiving hospital staff. Soon after admission, all of the pseudopatients were asked to stop simulating any symptoms of abnormality in order to determine whether psychiatrists and the hospital staff could accurately detect that the pseudopatients had no real mental illness.
There is much controversy surrounding the use of deception in research studies because it is an act in which researchers intentionally omit information from participants. However, there are several pros to this approach, one of them being that deception eliminates the possibility of participants altering their behavior and their responses based on the knowledge provided about the study to them. Another reason is that the study will in turn conclude to be more conscientious and reliable, thus maintaining its validity.
There are also several cons; many people believe that deception should not be acceptable in research studies because it in unethical and takes away from the open and honest relationship between the experimenter and participant. Another argument against deception is that it contradicts the principle of
To do this, Rosenhan uses deception. Through this approach, 8 pseudopatients are admitted into 12 different hospitals by simply falsely reporting hearing voices, thus deceiving hospital staff. Soon after admission, all of the pseudopatients were asked to stop simulating any symptoms of abnormality in order to determine whether psychiatrists and the hospital staff could accurately detect that the pseudopatients had no real mental illness.
There is much controversy surrounding the use of deception in research studies because it is an act in which researchers intentionally omit information from participants. However, there are several pros to this approach, one of them being that deception eliminates the possibility of participants altering their behavior and their responses based on the knowledge provided about the study to them. Another reason is that the study will in turn conclude to be more conscientious and reliable, thus maintaining its validity.
There are also several cons; many people believe that deception should not be acceptable in research studies because it in unethical and takes away from the open and honest relationship between the experimenter and participant. Another argument against deception is that it contradicts the principle of