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Is the Hawthorne Effect in Educational Experiments a Chimera

1973; SAGE Publishing; Linguagem: Inglês

1940-6487

Robert H. Bauernfeind, Carl J. Olson,

Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes

T X his article reports on an experi mental study designed to investigate the relationship between two factors com monly regarded as components of the Effect on pupil performance on an intellectual task: 1) direct cue, or awareness of experimentation, as repre sented by an announcement that pupils were the subjects of an experiment; and 2) indirect cue, or reactive arrangement, as represented by unusual attention given to the classroom. Pupils in grades 3 through 9 were studied to secure evidence as to the possible relationship of age as a variable in the potency of these cues (both direct and indirect) on task per formance. The results would provide evidence regarding the immediate effect of these cues when conducting research with children in an educational setting. In the mid-1920s the National Re search Council's Illuminating Engineer ing Society conducted a series of in dustrial lighting studies. When the re sults of the series indicated that it was clear that a direct relationship between illumination and production was non existent, additional studies were planned.1 One of the participating firms, West ern Electric, conducted the major por tion of the follow-up studies at the Works in Cicero, Illinois; hence the name Hawthorne Effect.2 The Works studies in vestigated possible factors in worker productivity and fatigue under varying working conditions in a small section of the plant, comparing changes in the number of telephone relays assembled by the workers. The experimental changes in conditions ranged from the establishment of five-minute rest peri ods to reduction of the work week to five days. George Hornan provides a summary of the results: