Healthy Living - Methods of Health Promotion - Evaluation (1)

Cowpe:

Method (Quasi Experiment)

Study had good ecological validity – the participants were in a natural setting (their homes), which is the setting that the results of the study would be applied to.However, impossible to maintain strict control. The results are correlational - don’t know that the TV campaign reduced chip pan fires. Decrease in number of chip-pan fires could have been caused by an extraneous variable, e.g. Less people using chip-pans.

Dannenberg:

Method (Natural Experiment/Self Reports)

Study had good ecological validity – the participants were in their natural environment, which is the setting that the results of the study would be applied to. However, reliance on self-reports is problematic – the children may have lied about wearing helmets as they knew they should wear one. Increase in helmet wearing could have been caused by an extraneous variable, e.g. Wearing a helmet may have become fashionable or ‘cool’ - social learning?