Evaluation of Rosenhan (1973)

Strengths:

• The type of hospital used was varied so the results are generalisable. Twelve hospitals were involved strengthening the findings and allowing them to be generalised. If just one hospital had been involved it might have been that hospital alone that 'labelled' mental illness.
• The design was simple. The pseudo-patients just had to be themselves, so it is unlikely that any treatment of them was due to their behaviour being similar to someone with mental illness. The fact that some of the bonafide patients realised that the pseudo-patients were not mentally ill backs this observation up and suggests their behaviour was validly normal. 
• By using 8 people in 12 hospitals the study was replicated and the same results were found…