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Experimental Research As Practical Action: Stooge Detection And Bias *
Author(s) -
Neff James Alan
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.1978.1.2.61
Subject(s) - ethnomethodology , action (physics) , set (abstract data type) , experimental research , epistemology , action research , psychology , social psychology , sociology , computer science , social science , mathematics education , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , programming language
A discussion of experimental research as practical action applies the ethnomethodological critique to research in experimental social psychology. While research on demand characteristics may meet some of the ethnomethodological criticisms, it may not provide a set of exemplars around which the practical activity of experimentation can be organized. “Stooge detection” is a practical problem often faced by experimenters. My data suggest that stooge detection may, in certain circumstances, be a member's strategy for dealing with a problematic experimental setting. This view has implications for notions of experimental “bias”.