Graduate Teaching Assistantship

The psychological effects of the research process on participant behaviour

It has been known that research participation influences behaviour for three quarters of a century. The "Hawthorne Effect" entered "the folklore of behavioural science" and has been the subject of much debate and claims-making. This term is used to refer to the effects of completing questionnaires, as well as to awareness of monitoring or observation, and more generally to any unexpected change over time for which reactivity to research conditions is believed to be responsible. The research process may subtly though powerfully communicate socially desirable views of the behaviour being studied with implications for the participant. Rigorous studies of the nature of this effect are unfortunately rare. This is important to rectify as it has largely unexplored potential to bias study of behaviour, and thus to interfere with valid inference.

"Assessment reactivity" has attracted much recent attention in the alcohol field where brief interventions and research assessments may be seen by study participants to be similar. Trials identifying assessment effects on behaviour have begun to emerge in this field, with similar data also becoming available in laboratory and community-based experimental social psychology studies. Within health psychology, momentum has similarly gathered in recent years, leading to trials of the "mere measurement effect". There may be differences in the ways these various terms have been conceptualised and operationalised, suggesting the need for multi-disciplinary conceptual work. Research reactivity issues have been around for a long time in one guise or another, so another important theme is to establish what can be gained from the existing research literature. Investigation of the effects of the research process on participant behaviour provides novel social science-based training in research methods which may be pursued quantitatively, qualitatively or in mixed method studies.

Quantitative studies may be undertaken in the context of systematic reviews of intervention studies to change health behaviours including cigarette smoking, hazardous drinking, unhealthy eating or inadequate physical activity. Qualitative studies may also be undertaken to systematically review existing data, which though collected for other purposes may be helpful in better understanding these issues. An obvious way to pursue study of the effects of the research process on participant behaviour is to seek participant data directly in studies nested within larger cohort studies or trials. Mixed-method studies could include surveys of the views of the research community on the nature and importance of these issues, or Delphi studies. Systematic reviews of health research methodology textbooks, social science methods texts, and methodological papers published in peer-reviewed journals may also provide valuable insights.

This project will be based in the Public & Environmental Health Research Unit, in the Department of Public Health & Policy.

Graduate Teaching Assistantships