Field Experiment क्षेत्र प्रयोग what is field experiment
Channel: LivePsy20
Date: 26/07/2020

Field experiments are done in the real-life environment of the participants. The experimenter still manipulates the independent variable, but cannot control extraneous variables.

Strength
Behavior in a field experiment is more likely to reflect real life because of its natural setting, i.e. higher ecological validity than a lab experiment.
There is less likelihood of demand characteristics affecting the results, as participants may not know they are being studied. 

Limitation
There is no control over extraneous variables that might impair the results. This makes it difficult for another researcher to replicate the study in exactly the same way.

Hofling Hospital Experiment (1966)
Aim: Hofling (1966) created a more realistic study of obedience by carrying out field studies on nurses who were unaware that they were involved in an experiment.

Method
The procedure involved a naturalistic field experiment involving 22 (real) night nurses. Dr. Smith calls the nurses at the hospital (on 22 separate occasions) and asks them to check to see if they have the necessary drug. 
When the nurse checks, she can see that the maximum dosage is supposed to be 10mg.  When they reported to the ‘Doctor’, they were told to administer 20mg of the drug to a patient called ‘Mr. Jones’.  Dr. Smith was in a desperate hurry and he would sign the authorization form when he came to see Mr. Jones later on.
 The nurses were watched to see what they would do. The medication was not real, though the nurses thought it was.

Independent variable: Instruction given (Order by higher authority/Doctor)
Dependent variable: Nurses behavior (Obedience)
The extraneous variable might be Fear of job loss, getting scolded, Fear of Transfer, etc.
If the nurse administers the drug, they will have broken three hospital rules:
 They are not allowed to accept instructions over the phone.
2. The dose was double the maximum limit stated on the box.
3. The medicine itself as unauthorized, i.e. not on the ward stock list.
The drug itself was a harmless sugar pill invented just for the experiment.

Results
21 out of 22 (95%) nurses were easily influenced by carrying out the orders. They were not supposed to take instructions by phone, let alone exceed the allowed dose (though, the drug was a placebo). 
When other nurses were asked to discuss what they would do in a similar situation (i.e. a control group), 21 out of 22 said they would not comply with the order. 
Conclusion
 Hofling demonstrated that people are very unwilling to question supposed ‘authority’, even when they might have good reason to.