Daphne Has Been a Member of a Research Team Studying

question 15

Essay

Daphne has been a member of a research team studying interpersonal aggression among preschoolers for more than a year.In that time,her team has repeatedly employed a consistent set of techniques and procedures to study preschoolers as they interact in a number of settings.The procedures revolve around volunteer mothers bringing their children to the university child development lab for a "play session" that is the basis of the formal observations.Settings they have studied so far include: the university pre-school,affluent local day-care centers,and a pre-kindergarten program being offered in the neighborhood school district.All of these settings were fairly racially homogenous.
Daphne has just learned that a friend of a friend can help her gain research access,in the near future,to preschoolers in an unusually racially diverse though impoverished preschool setting.Daphne decides she has no time to prepare a formal research proposal before embarking on the study."Besides," she thinks,"this study should go just like all the others we've done."
Is Daphne leaving herself open to problems in this situation,or is she safe moving ahead with no formal proposal,given how familiar she is with the study techniques and procedures?

---

Definitions:

Weak-Willed Individuals

Persons who lack the determination or strength of will to persist in achieving goals or resisting temptation.

Obeyed Authority's Orders

The act of following directives given by someone in a position of power or authority, often explored in social psychology regarding compliance and conformity.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to overestimate personality-based explanations for others' behavior rather than situational factors.

Jonestown Cult

A tragic historical event involving the mass suicide and murder of members of the Peoples Temple, led by Jim Jones, in 1978.