SOC 201 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Hawthorne Works, Western Electric
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When we observe behavior in its natural context, we glean important clues about the impact of context on behavior. Moreover, observational research enables the researcher to get information about individuals, such as small children who are not able to fill out questionnaires or respond to oral survey questions. The weakness of observational methods includes the fact that only relatively small groups can be observed at once. Moreover, observational research is probably the most labor-intensive kind of research. Finally, the very fact of researcher participation in field research can influence subjects, and therefore findings, in what is known as the hawthorne effect. Here is how the hawthorne effect is typically described: Back in the 1920s, a group of social scientists wanted to investigate the sorts of things that could influence worker productivity. They chose to study this issue in a factory that made electrical parts:
