Salancik (1979) has used the term field stimulation to describe a form of observation research that shares many of the characteristics of structured observation. Although he classifies field stimulations as a qualitative method, they are in fact better thought of as operating with a quantitative research strategy, since the research typically seeks to quantify the outcomes of his or her interventions. In terms of the classification offered in Key concept 12.2, it is in fact ‘contrived observation’. Part of LaPiere’s (1934) study (see Thinking deeply 12.2) was a field stimulation: when he arranged for the Chinese couple to seek entry to the hotels and the restaurants in order to observe the effect of their attempts, he was employing a field stimulation. A field stimulation, therefore, is a study in which the researcher directly intervenes in and/or manipulates a natural setting in order to observe what happens as a consequence of that intervention. However, unlike most structured observation, in a field stimulation participants do not know they are being studied. A famous field stimulation is described in Research in focus 12.5.
Research in focus 12.5
A field stimulation
David Rosenhan (1973) was one of eight people who sought to gain entry as mental hospitals in the USA. Some of them---they are referred to as ‘pseudo-patients’---sought entry to more than one hospital, so that twelve hospitals were approached. Each pseudo-patient was instructed to say that he or she was hearing voices. All successfully gained entry, in eleven of twelve cases with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. As soon as they had succeeded in gaining entry, the pseudo-patients were instructed to case exhibiting any symptoms. In spite of the fact that the pseudo-patients were all ‘sane’, it took many of them quite a long time to be released. The length of hospitalization varied between seven and fifty-two days with a mean of nineteen days. In four of the hospitals, pseudo-patients approached psychiatrists and nurses with a request for release, with member of staff being approached more than once on any day. The pseudo-patient recorded the nature of the response to their request: 71 per cent of psychiatrists responded by moving on with their heads averted and 88 per cent of nurses did likewise. Rosenhan regards this evidence as indicating that the mental patient becomes powerless and depersonalized. The study has been highly controversial, as many psychiatrists have sought to question its implications, while other have raised ethical issues of the kind addressed in Chapter 6 (such as the use of deception).
Table 12.1
Some field stimulations can take the form of an experimental design (see Chapter 3). An example is a study by Daniel (1968) of racial discrimination in Britain in the 1960s. Daniel undertook conventional attitude studies among immigrant groups to establish levels of discrimination. In addition, he developed ‘situation tests’ to back up his findings. For example, in one set of situation tests he examined discrimination in the area of accommodation. Sixty advertisements for accommodation to let were selected from a number of regions. Advertisements stipulating ‘no coloureds’ or ‘Europeans only’ were deliberately excluded. At the time, it was not illegal for landlords to place such instructions in their advertisements. Each landlord was approached by each of the following: a West Indian; a white Hungarian; and a white Englishman. The applicants were presented with identical sets of characteristics, but they differed in terms of ethnicity. The applicant was requesting accommodation for a married couple with no children. In half of the applications (that is, thirty), the testers adopted ‘professional roles’. In these roles they sought more expensive accommodation. In the other half, they adopted manual roles. In fifteen of the sixty cases, all three applicants got the same information (for example, let, still vacant). This means that discrimination occurred in the remaining forty-five case (see table 12.1).
Daniel’s research strongly suggests that, because the Hungarian was rarely discriminated against, it is colour rather than being a member of an ethnic minority as such that causes discrimination. Similar studies were conducted in relation to house purchase, employment, and car insurance. Interestingly, the researchers often fund that these tests implied that discriminations was greater than had been indicated by the attitude surveys, presumably because it is difficult to know if you really have been discriminated against.
While such research provides some quite striking findings and gets around the problem of reactivity by not alerting research participants to the fact that they are being observed, like the pseudo-patient study in Research in focus 12.5 ethical concerns are sometimes raised, such as the use of deception. Moreover, the extent to which an observation schedule can be employed is inevitably limited, because excessive use will blow the observer’s cover. All that can usually be done is to engage in limited coding, in particular the nature of the effect of the intervention, as in the LaPiere (1934) and Daniel (1968) studies, or to include a limited amount of further observation, as in the Rosenhan (1973) research.