Читать книгу The Research Experience - Ann Sloan Devlin - Страница 140

Continuing with threats to internal validity, one very important threat is the researcher, as was indicated earlier in the material on instrumentation. The role of the experimenter also fits into a broader category called demand characteristics. The label suggests the meaning of the term—something in the research situation demands or shapes our behavior. The formal definition of demand characteristics is “Cues available to participants in a study that may enable them to determine the purpose of the study, or what is expected by the researcher” (Corsini, 2002, p. 262). For the researcher, these cues could come in the attire of the researcher (e.g., a lab coat), the manner of speech, eye gaze, or a host of other qualities. Cues can also come from the physical setting (e.g., size of the room), the other people in the room (e.g., only one gender), and the status of the researcher (e.g., student vs. professor).