Question

Consider a field experiment conducted by (Baron, 1997) in which a researcher observes people behaving in a natural setting. In the experiment, researchers arranged for a confederate to ask people for change for a dollar in a shopping mall. They recorded how many people tried to help. When the confederate asked for help outside a pleasant-smelling store (a cookie store or a coffee store), he received more help than when he asked for help outside a neutral-smelling store.

     In this field experiment, would it be necessary to debrief the participants? Consider the costs and benefits of explaining the true nature of the experiment to each participant who was approached for change.

Answer 1

In this study, the researchers may find that not debriefing the participants would be a much more convenient route to take as it would save them additional time, cost and effort. However, if this process is not carried out, it has the probability of raising certain issues with the ethical review board with respect to informed consent. If the participants are debriefed after the study, the researcher has the opportunity to collect additional information about them such as their demographic details. This would allow richer inferences to be made from the data.