Bocchiaro Evaluation

Replicable?

Standard instructions and procedure

Data interpretation

Mostly quantitative data

The qualitative data will have needed interpretation

Controls

Same process

Same experimenter

Same time in rooms

Same materials 

Population

Large sample/Males and females

Ethnocentric – All Dutch university students

Ecological

Mundane realism

Can’t generalise to other situations (Student obeying and experimenter)

Temporal

New study

Obedience levels and authority figures are likely to change over time

Face

Only measured one specific way of obedience 

Strengths:

Both genders

Large sample

Weaknesses:

Ethnocentric

Unrepresentative of age or educational background

Quantitative

Strengths:

Easy to interpret

Allows for statistical analysis

Weaknesses:

Doesn’t tell you why they obey/disobeyed/blew the whistle

Qualitative

Strengths:

More insight into what affects obedience levels

Weaknesses:

Subjective 

Informed Consent – They gained presumptive consent from pilot studies

Deception – They were lied to about it being real

Confidentiality – No names were released

Debrief – They were fully debriefed afterwards

Protection – They were put into a situation which could have been stressful

Observation – No observation

Withdrawal – They could withdraw at anytime