Artifacts in behavioral research : Robert Rosenthal and Ralph L. Rosnow's classic books : a re-issue of Artifact in behavioral research, Experimenter effects in behavioral research and the volunteer subject

## Abstract This book is really three-books-in-one, dealing with the topic of artifacts in behavioral research. It is about the problems of experimenter effects which have not been solved. Experimenters still differ in the ways in which they see, interpret, and manipulate their data. Experimenters still obtain different responses from research participants (human or infrahuman) as a function of experimenters' states and traits of biosocial, psychosocial, and situational origins. Experimenters' expectations still serve too often as self-fulfilling prophecies, a problem that biomedical researchers have acknowledged and guarded against better than have behavioral researchers; e.g., many biomedical studies would be considered of unpublishable quality had their experimenters not been blind to experimental condition. Problems of participant or subject effects have also not been solved. Researchers usually still draw research samples from a population of volunteers that differ along many dimensions from those not finding their way into our research. Research participants are still often suspicious of experimenters' intent, try to figure out what experimenters are after, and are concerned about what the experimenter thinks of them. That portion of the complexity of human behavior that can be attributed to the social nature of behavioral research can be conceptualized as a set of artifacts to be isolated, measured, considered, and, sometimes, eliminated. This book examines the methodological and substantive implications of sources of artifacts in behavioral research and strategies for improving this situation.
This new combination volume of three-books-in-one, dealing with the topic of artifacts in behavioral research, was designed as both introduction and reminder. It was designed as an introduction to the topic for graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and younger researchers. It was designed as a reminder to more experienced researchers, in and out of academia, that the problems of artifacts in behavioral research, that they may have learned about as beginning researchers, have not gone away.

For example, problems of experimenter effects have not been solved. Experimenters still differ in the ways in which they see, interpret, and manipulate their data. Experimenters still obtain different responses from research participants (human or infrahuman) as a function of experimenters' states and traits of biosocial, psychosocial, and situational origins.

Experimenters' expectations still serve too often as self-fulfilling prophecies, a problem that biomedical researchers have acknowledged and guarded against better than have behavioral researchers; e.g., many biomedical studies would be considered of unpublishable quality had their experimenters not been blind to experimental condition.

Problems of participant or subject effects have also not been solved. We usually still draw our research samples from a population of volunteers that differ along many dimensions from those not finding their way into our research. Research participants are still often suspicious of experimenters' intent, try to figure out what experimenters are after, and are concerned about what the experimenter thinks of them.

Book one: Artifacts in behavior Perspective: artifact and control / Edwin G. Boring Suspiciousness of experimenter's intent / William J. McGuire The volunteer subject / Robert Rosenthal and Ralph L. Rosnpw Pretest sensitization / Robert E. Lana Demand characteristics and the concept of quasi-controls / Martin T. Orne Interpersonal expectations : effects of the experimenter's hypothesis / Robert Rosenthal The conditions and consequences of evaluation apprehension / Milton J. Rosenberg Prospective : artifact and control / Donald T. Campbell Book two: Experimenter effects The nature of experimenter effects The experimenter as observer Interpretation of data Intentional error Biosocial attributes Psychosocial attributes Situational factors Experimenter modeling Experimenter expectancy Studies of experimenter expectancy effects Human subjects Animal subjects Subject set Early data returns Excessive rewards Structural variables Behavioral variables Communication of experimenter expectancy Methodological implications The generality and assessment of experimenter effects Replications and their assessment Experimenter sampling Experimenter behavior Personnel considerations Blind and minimized contact Expectancy control groups Book three: The volunteer subject Introduction Characteristics of the volunteer subject Situational determinants of volunteering Implications for the interpretation of research findings Empirical research on voluntarism as an artifact An intergrative overview.