Experimental research.
Discussion Question.
1. Briefly describe an experimental problem for which a researcher probably would not be able to assign participants at random to conditions.
Researchers might not be able to assign participants at random because of ethical and lawful conditions. For example s research might not be able to give a participant a treatment because of the religious believes of the participant. Therefore eliminating that participant and others like them. Another example would be because the researcher wants to administrate a treatment and a placebo they would need to follow the law and get concoct from the participant. Eliminating the placebo effect because the participants would know they are getting the actual treatment making the experiment. By doing it the lawful way they would be selecting only those who choose to take the treatment and not making the selection of the participants not random. The way researchers might conduct how they assign participants at random can have some roadblock because of ethics and the law.
Hi Luis!
I appreciate that you chose this question. It was one of the ones I looked at and had no idea how to answer it. I could not think of any reasons that a researcher would not be able to assign participants at random. I definitely did not consider religion as an option, but it is a good one.
I think I had a hard time wrapping my brain around this question because I figured that if someone could not participate in any part of the study for any reason, they would not be able to be a participant in the study. If you went into a study and participants had certain expectations in place, it might make it easier for the participants to determine how they are participating in the study and that could skew results.
Ethics is a major concern with any research which is why we have ethics review boards and requirements around informing the subject about the purpose and manner the study will be conducted.
I think religious beliefs is an excellent example, since it can exclude large portions, if not all, of a specific demographic from a study.
Hi, I like the question you choose. As someone who would fall into a group where a random approach might be inappropriate, I would point out that there are situations in which a subject’s own issues would need to be considered prior to assignment so as not to make matters worse. I have PTSD and one thing true about those with PTSD is that while we have a fair degree of commonality in our reactions to triggers, those triggers themselves can be vastly different. Experiments designed to use specific techniques may be ineffective, or even aggravating, to the disability of some people. Triggers, and the manner in which they are addressed could require vastly different handling. In such a case those would require a selective assignment process in order to maintain ethical standards. Some people I know with PTSD react well to treatments that would prove to be ineffective, at best, with my own issues, and others would exacerbate those same issues. Anything similar would require a balancing act between the research and the ethical issues.
If you are still looking at comments, the Tuskegee Experiments are a prime example of why random assignment can be unethical.
https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/index.html