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Demand Characteristics
A demand characteristic is used to describe specific cues in experimental research that may inadvertently influence a participant’s response or behavior in an experiment. A demand characteristic can manifest in a number of different ways if the researcher is not careful when designing and proceeding with a study. In communication and social research, demand characteristics can create bias in an experiment due to the subject becoming aware of the purpose of the experimental design and, thus, potentially bias or invalidate the outcomes of the experiment. The presence of demand characteristics within an experiment can introduce challenges for researchers, because demand characteristics can call into question the internal and external validity of the experimental findings. This entry discusses the issues surrounding demand characteristics, some of the most common sources of demand characteristics, and how researchers can address demand characteristics in their own research.
Demand Characteristics in Research
When designing a research experiment, researchers often use treatments and controls to understand the effects additional variables have on the subjects being researched. When studying human subjects, it is possible for those subjects to become aware of the true purpose for conducting the experiment. For example, a participant may overhear the researcher discussing the purpose of the study, or a participant may try to guess the purpose of the experiment based on the observational environment or the subject’s role in the experiment. Demand characteristics refer to the cues that participants receive as part of the study that may allow them to determine or interpret the true research hypotheses being studied.
Participants who identify demand characteristics within the experiment will often adjust their role and behavior in the experiment in order to comply with their reinterpretation of the purpose of the study. In other words, participants may modify their responses if they believe they have discovered what the researcher is actually looking for in the experiment. Subsequently, participants may answer questionnaires or change their behavior to better represent what they hope the researcher might want to observe. In some cases, participants who believe they have determined the true motive for the experiment may actively work to give answers or create behaviors that contradict those expectations. In either scenario, the modification of observations by participants due to demand characteristics can potentially bias the results of an experiment and threaten the internal and external validity of the research.
Manifestations of Demand Characteristics
Demand characteristics can manifest in a multitude of ways. Two main areas in which demand characteristics can potentially occur is through the researcher conducting the experiment and the participant’s role within the experiment.
Demand Characteristics From the Researcher
Researchers conducting an experiment may inadvertently give off demand characteristics that influence the participant’s behavior. When researchers recruit participants for a study, the information provided about the experiment during the recruitment and consent process may give cues about the purpose of the experiment. In addition, laboratory settings, environmental objects, recording instruments, and experiment instructions may all influence what participants anticipate is the purpose of the experiment. Researchers who are conducting interviews or have face-to-face interactions with their subjects may smile or nod their head when receiving a response, suggesting to the participant that he or she may have provided a correct answer. Furthermore, as the researcher conducts the interview, he or she may change the intonation or pitch of his or her voice, which may give the participant cues about the type of answer the participant provided. For survey research, participants may derive cues from the wording of questions or the structure of the survey to attempt to discern the experimental hypotheses or what answer the researcher might want.
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