Tiefenbeck V (2016)
Publication Type: Conference contribution, Conference Contribution
Publication year: 2016
Event location: Coimbra, Portugal
Participants of research studies may exhibit altered behaviour resulting from awareness
of being a part of an experimental study. Although this so-called Hawthorne effect has led
to increased scrutiny in social science research, little is still known about the magnitude
and persistence of that phenomenon. The findings of several recent field studies on
resource conservation indicate the occurrence of substantial Hawthorne effects. This
raises concerns that even robust studies with treatment and control may not sufficiently
disentangle Hawthorne effects from participants’ actual response to the intervention,
casting doubts on the treatment effects reported and on the generalizability of the findings
to non-study populations. In this article, we seek to gauge the magnitude and time
dynamics of the Hawthorne effect. We analyse the behaviour of the control groups in four
independent randomized controlled trials on resource conservation conducted in
Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Singapore. Each study comprised between 525 and 800
households and collected detailed measurement data on participants’ energy and water
use over two to six months. We find strikingly consistent patterns across the four studies:
each control group initially increased their resource use and transitioned within the first
few weeks into a relatively stable level of consumption, 5-20 percent above the initial
level. Our interpretation is that control group households reduced their resource use at
the beginning of the study compared to their pre-study behaviour, yet relapsed towards
their pre-study behaviour as they got used to the measurement device. We can rule out
seasonal trends as an alternative explanation and attribute these patterns to Hawthorne
or salience effects. Our data suggest that the current practice of collecting baseline data
at the beginning of studies may lead to biased reference points, as the baseline coincides
with the period most affected by the Hawthorne effect.
APA:
Tiefenbeck, V. (2016). On the magnitude and persistence of the Hawthorne effect - evidence from four field studies. In Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Behaviour and Energy Efficiency (Behave 2016). Coimbra, Portugal.
MLA:
Tiefenbeck, Verena. "On the magnitude and persistence of the Hawthorne effect - evidence from four field studies." Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Behaviour and Energy Efficiency (Behave 2016), Coimbra, Portugal 2016.
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