Handling the Hawthorne effect: The challenges surrounding a participant observer

Attitudes have been a commonly used psychological measure of program effectiveness in conservation social science research. The major limitation of this approach is that attitudes do not always translate into behavior and therefore may not provide an accurate assessment of program success. Given that achieving conservation goals generally relies on understanding and changing human behavior, we argue for the need to assess behavior rather than attitudes as an indicator of conservation outcomes. Psychological theory shows that attitudes and behavior are distinct, but related, concepts. Measuring conservation behaviors involves identifying the target behavior or behaviors and the optimal time to measure and then selecting the most appropriate method of measurement (i.e., direct observation, objective indicators, self-reported behavior, and behavioral intentions) that considers the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. We call for conservation programs to focus on influencing behavior rather than attitudes alone and encourage conservation practitioners and researchers to collect high-quality behavioral data to more effectively inform policy and programs. Logro del Impacto de la Conservación Cambiando el Enfoque en las Actitudes Humanas a los ComportamientosResumen: Las actitudes han sido utilizadas comúnmente como una medida psicológica de la eficacia de una Palabras Clave: biodiversidad, cambio de comportamiento, eficacia, evaluación, intervenciones, programasArticle impact statement: Encouraging researchers and practitioners to collect behavioral data and promote behavior change improves policy and program outcomes.

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“…Establish nonthreatening perception and build rapport to mitigate Hawthorne effect (Oswald et al. ).…”

Section: Measuring Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Achieving conservation impact by shifting focus from human attitudes to behaviors

Nilsson

Fielding

Dean

2019

Conservation Biology

106

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“…The primary author was conscious about a possible Hawthorne effect (O'Reilly, 2009;Oswald, Sherratt, & Smith, 2014). The effect was overcome by building trusting relationships so the carers felt unthreatened by the primary author's presence at the group meetings.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Support groups for carers of a person with dementia who lives at home: A focused ethnographic study

Lauritzen

Bjerrum

Pedersen

et al. 2019

Journal of Advanced Nursing

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Aims To explore and understand carer participation in support groups when caring for a person with dementia who lives at home. Design Focused ethnographic design. Methods Participant observations and semi‐structured interviews were conducted from January–December 2015. The data were collected from four support groups in the Danish primary healthcare system. Interviews were conducted with 25 carers. An inductive content analysis of the data was performed. Results Three themes were identified: emotional well‐being due to peer and family support, emotional sense of togetherness despite hardships and emotional and ethical considerations in caregiving. Conclusion Support group participation with positive peer interaction increases carer self‐esteem and feelings of togetherness, and an awareness of maintaining the care receiver`s dignity and prevention of conflicts with families, resulting in an improvement in carer well‐being, leading to increased motivation to continue caring. Carers who hid their group participation face a potential conflict with the care receiver. Impact By sharing positive experiences, carers have increased self‐esteem and feelings of togetherness, which can have a positive impact on their motivation to continue caring. Positive peer interaction encouraged a shift in focus from negative to positive experiences, resulting in an improvement in carer well‐being. Joint group participation prevented conflicts in families. To protect the care receivers, carers kept support group participation a secret. Healthcare professionals could improve carer well‐being by focusing on positive caring experiences in support groups.

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“…Data were collected in a variety of ways, including observations made during site safety walkarounds, talking informally to workers on-site, attending safety meetings, and through discussions and observations of the site safety team both on site and in their own designated office space. Field notes were made either during or as soon as possible after relevant interactions (Pole and Morrison 2003:26), and an interaction protocol, developed specifically for the project (see Oswald et al 2014a). This protocol implemented to ensure consistency in the steps involved in the collection and recording of any interactions and observations in the field, and to reduce the risks of reactivity, such as the Hawthorne effect.…”

Section: An Ethnographic Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring safety management challenges for multi-national construction workforces: a UK case study

Oswald

Sherratt

Smith

et al. 2017

Construction Management and Economics

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Large construction projects frequently operate with multi-national workforces, utilising migrant workers to provide both skilled and unskilled labour. Multi-national workforces are also brought together through joint ventures, as companies from different countries collaborate and share their expertise to construct large and complex construction projects. A multi-national joint venture in the UK provides the case study for an examination of the safety management challenges found on such projects. Whilst language and communication issues amongst workers are typically primary concerns, here they have not been prioritised. Instead, findings are presented that illuminate more nuanced and unquantifiable problems that faced the safety management team. An ethnographically-informed approach was mobilised, with the lead researcher spending three years on the site with the safety team gathering data. Analysis revealed several challenges: problems with non-UK company compliance with UK legislation and standards; differences in working practices amongst both non-UK workers and their managers; differences associated with national cultures; and problems of poor worker welfare. It is suggested that awareness of these challenges should inform both the way in which such projects are initially contracted, as well as the development of more sophisticated safety management systems that better support multi-national construction projects in practice.

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Handling the Hawthorne effect: The challenges surrounding a participant observer

Cited by 114 publications

References 21 publications

Achieving conservation impact by shifting focus from human attitudes to behaviors

Achieving conservation impact by shifting focus from human attitudes to behaviors

Support groups for carers of a person with dementia who lives at home: A focused ethnographic study

Exploring safety management challenges for multi-national construction workforces: a UK case study

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