The Placebo Control Group: An Analysis of Its Effectiveness in Educational Research
The Placebo Control Group: An Analysis of Its Effectiveness in Educational Research
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安慰剂对照组：其在教育研究中的有效性分析
DOI：
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发表时间：
1990
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
C. Huynh
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
J. Adair;D. Sharpe;C. Huynh
本文报告了教育实验中安慰剂对照组的回顾和荟萃分析。研究被分成控制程序，包括显性地操纵注意因素(Attn+)，明确描述安慰剂活动加上暗示注意(Act+)，以及排他性地引用活动(仅Act-Only)。ACT+程序是最符合安慰剂对照模型的做法。与其他两个过程相比，行为+控制更多地被用于人际关系研究，而不是个人研究，在这些研究中，受试者知道他们正在参与一项实验，对表现变化有预期，并且安慰剂活动类似于治疗任务。在Act+研究中，实验者对照组和儿童受试者的效应大小明显更大。结果与教育研究中霍桑标记的对照组的结果进行了比较，并考虑了教育中安慰剂标记的对照组与心理咨询治疗研究中使用的对照组之间的差异。源于医学研究，Rosenthal和Frank(1956；参阅Goldstein，1962)首次提出将安慰剂效应和安慰剂对照的概念应用于非药物研究。借用这些概念是因为心理学和教育学的研究人员认识到，在进行药物研究时产生的反应效应在行为科学的研究中也会遇到。在药物方面，安慰剂被定义为一种没有已知药理作用的惰性物质(Shapiro，1960)。当它被应用于治疗结果有效性的测试或新课程或教学方法的课堂测试时，其含义不太清楚。事实上，安慰剂概念是否以及如何应用于行为研究的根本问题从未得到充分解决。
This article reports a review and meta-analysis of placebo control groups in educational experiments. Studies were clustered into control procedures that included explicit manipulation of attentional elements (Attn + ), explicit descrip tion of the placebo activity plus implied reference to attention (Act + ), and exclusive reference to the activity (Act-Only). The Act + procedure was the practice most con sistent with the model for a placebo control. Compared with the other two proce dures, Act + controls were employed more often in interpersonal rather than aca demic studies in which subjects knew they were participating in an experiment, had an expectancy for performance change, and the placebo activity resembled the treat ment task. Significantly larger effect sizes in Act + studies were found with the ab sence of experimenter controls and child subjects. The results were compared with findings from Hawthorne-labeled control groups in educational studies, and the dif ferences between placebo-labeled control groups in education and those used in psy chotherapy research were considered. ORIGINATING IN MEDICAL RESEARCH, the application of the concepts of placebo effect and placebo controls to non-drug research was first suggested by Rosenthal and Frank (1956; see Goldstein, 1962). The concepts were borrowed because researchers in psychology and education recognized that reactive effects arising in the conduct of drug research were also encountered in research in the behavioral sciences. In the drug context, a placebo is defined as an inert substance with no known pharmacological effect (Shapiro, 1960). Its meaning, when applied to tests of the outcome ef fectiveness of therapy or to classroom tests of new curricula or teaching methods, is less clear. Indeed, the fundamental questions of whether and how the placebo concept applies to behavioral research has never been ade quately addressed.