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Based on the provided context of Jerry Burger's study, explain how a researcher can justify stopping a replication earlier than the original study's maximum threshold. Specifically, what empirical pattern in historical data allows for a valid comparison of obedience rates while reducing participant risk?
Case context: Imagine you are an ethics board member reviewing a proposal to replicate a controversial historical study on obedience. The original study allowed participants to administer what they believed were increasingly painful electric shocks up to a -volt maximum, causing extreme distress. The applicant proposes replicating this study but stopping the experiment at volts, citing Jerry Burger's design modification.
Question: Based on the provided context of Jerry Burger's study, explain how a researcher can justify stopping a replication earlier than the original study's maximum threshold. Specifically, what empirical pattern in historical data allows for a valid comparison of obedience rates while reducing participant risk?
Sample answer: A researcher can justify stopping the replication early because historical data shows that participants who reached the -volt shock typically continued all the way to the -volt maximum. By stopping the procedure at volts, the researcher can validly compare obedience rates and estimate how many participants would have continued to the maximum, while successfully avoiding the severe psychological stress that participants experienced at higher voltage levels.
Key points:
- Explains that past data showed participants reaching volts typically continued to the -volt maximum.
- Describes how this allows the researcher to compare obedience rates and estimate final obedience without administering higher shocks.
- Connects the stopping point directly to minimizing harm and reducing severe psychological stress.
Rubric: The answer must demonstrate comprehension of the relationship between the -volt threshold and the -volt maximum. It must explain that reaching volts predicts completion to the maximum, and that stopping at this point allows for valid comparison and estimation of obedience rates while protecting participants from the severe stress of higher voltages.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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In Jerry Burger's modification of the Milgram obedience study, the procedure was stopped just before participants administered a -volt shock because historical data indicated that this point served as a reliable predictor of total obedience.
In Jerry Burger's 2009 replication of the Milgram obedience study, the procedure was stopped just before participants administered a _____-volt shock, rather than allowing them to continue to the 450-volt maximum.
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Recall and describe the specific modification Jerry Burger made to Stanley Milgram's obedience study design in his replication. What were the specific voltage thresholds involved, and what was the ethical purpose of this modification?
Based on the provided context of Jerry Burger's study, explain how a researcher can justify stopping a replication earlier than the original study's maximum threshold. Specifically, what empirical pattern in historical data allows for a valid comparison of obedience rates while reducing participant risk?
How can a researcher apply the design logic of Jerry Burger's study to modify a different high-risk psychological experiment? Describe how historical data from the original experiment should be used to establish a safer stopping point without losing scientific validity.