Reflexive Assignment 1

Imane Rhaleb

Sociology 131-16

3-3-14

Reflexive Assignment 1

A research method is a systematic plan for doing research. There are four kinds of methods that a researcher or sociologist can use in their research: the experiment, survey research, participant observation, and data from existing sources (pg. 22).

The experiment is a research method that investigates the cause and effect under favorably controlled conditions; this is where the hypothesis is tested. The goal of the experiment is to support or refute the hypothesis (pg. 22). A hypothesis in an experiment is an educated guess about the relationship of two or more variables and how they are connected. The construction of the hypothesis is built into an if-then statement: if this certain situation were to occur, then that particular outcome will result (pg. 23). Supporting or rejecting a hypothesis after the collection of sufficient data occurs within four steps: (1) Determine the independent variable and the dependent variable. The independent variable is the variable that is manipulated and is characterized as the “cause” of the change. The dependent variable is what’s measured in the experiment and is the “effect,” or the thing that is changed. (2) Measure the initial value of the dependent variable. (3) Present the dependent variable to the independent variable, which is the “cause” or “treatment” of the experiment. (4) Measure the dependent variable again (pg. 23). This allows the researcher to see if any or no change took place. If a change occurred in the experiment, this demonstrates to the researcher that the hypothesis was supported; otherwise, if it was rejected, then that allows the researcher to modify his or her hypothesis. While maintaining a defined control provides for a lesser challenge in a standard research laboratory, sociologists have the advantage of conducting experiments “in the field,” or in an everyday environment (pg. 23). This allows for sociologists to observe the subjects in their natural setting. A famous research study, called the “The Stanford County Prison,” by Philip Zimbardo used an experimental approach in which he had a hypothesis: once inside a prison, emotionally healthy people are likely to participate in violence in a prison setting (pg. 24). Overall, careful and immaculate control of variables allows for successful experiments.

Philip Zimbardo’s experiment, “The Stanford County Prison,” was a famous research conducted on August 20, 1971 that utilized the experimental research method. Before formulating his hypothesis, he developed several questions: are prisons violent settings because of “bad” people who end up there? Or does prison itself somehow cause violent behavior (pg. 24) ? As a result, Zimbardo’s hypothesis stated that once inside a prison, emotionally healthy people are likely to participate in violence in a prison setting (pg. 24). Therefore, in his experiment, the independent variable was the prison setting, and the dependent variable was the violence; the prison setting was capable of causing violence (pg. 24). 24 healthy young men were divided in half into the roles of prisoner and guard and had to spend two weeks in a mock county prison. However, the brutality of the guards towards the prisoners and the hostile behavior amongst the prisoners and guards were so extreme that the researchers had to end the experiment one week earlier. What occurred in those seven days supported Zimbardo’s hypothesis: prison violence is engrained into the social structure of prisons and not in the personalities of the prisoners or the guards. Zimbardo’s conclusion prompted others to question the effectiveness of our society’s prisons and actually prompted basic reform. Additionally, his experiment was a precedent to other researcher in that it showed the potential to threaten the physical and mental state of the participants (pg. 24). Furthermore, Zimbardo’s research is most represented by the symbolic-interaction approach. Symbolic interactionism is a theory that views society as the product of the everyday interactions of individuals (pg. 14). In Zimbardo’s experiment, he asked a similar question to what this theoretical approach asks: how does the behavior change from person to person and from one situation to another? His experiment examined how a person’s normal behavior can shift dramatically when placed into a hostile environment and how the behavior of the men differed between the two roles assigned: the guard versus the prisoner.