The Hawthorne Effect - Cover Sheet SCI Home | SCI Faculty Page | Case Notes | Reference List | Users Notes

Author - Tim Brazill - Summer 1998

The Hawthorne Effect - The tendency for human subjects to behave differently when they know (or believe) they are part of an experiment (or just under observation).

Case Purpose The purpose of the case is multifold: 1- To acquaint the students with experimental work as it is done in the social sciences, with particular attention to the methodological difficulties of dealing with subjects who are self-aware, intelligent, often suspicious, and/or may have their own agenda; 2 – To give them historical background on the research that made this problem abundantly clear; 3 – To heighten their critical thinking skills by analyzing results (looking for patterns) and positing explanations; 4 – To develop their creative skills, by asking them to develop potential methods to deal with the difficulties.

Further, it may be coupled with a subsequent piece on the Heisenberg Principle (yet to be developed) to show that changes in the behavior of the observed due to the sheer act of observation are not unique to the social sciences.

This case may also be connected to Keegan Grenier's case on the social facilitation effect, which is seemingly related.

Relation to Texts

• Carey: Experimental Approach covered in Chapter 2; Particular design effects on pp. 26-27
• Ziman: Experiment: 2.8; Cause and Effect 2.11; Serendipity in Investigation 2.5; Human subject awareness as a problem in the social sciences 16.4 (see especially p.190, and note that the last couple of sentences hint at the connection I’m trying to make by including the Heisenberg Principle).

Description of Case Materials

1. Short (2-3 page) initial reading for the students, which sets the stage for the research and describes the experimental design, sample, and set of conditions employed by the Hawthorne researchers.
2. Photo images of the object the Hawthorne employees were assembling, and of the five experimental subjects themselves (to add a little realism to the situation).
3. Group Worksheets # 1, 2 & 3. (One each per small group is all that's necessary)
4. Graph of average hourly work output of the five test subjects over the various test periods.

Case Use First, provide the students with the short at-home reading (#1 above) to prepare for the case study. The instructor should begin on the next day by describing the general working conditions at the Hawthorne plant, supplemented with the photos (#2 above). Break the students into their small groups, and ask them to respond (in writing) to the questions posed on Group Worksheet #1 (from #3 above) based on their understanding of the situation thus far (it asks them to make predictions about the likely results of the test periods on worker output). You may want to print extra copies of the test period schedule.  When they've all completed this task you may then hand out the graph of the average hourly output results (#4 above), and Group Worksheet #2 (from #3 above). This worksheet asks them to match their predictions to the actual results (the match should be imperfect), make note of any patterns they see in the data (general increase in output over each successive test period, regardless of the condition imposed), and asks them to posit potential explanations for this result. You might then discuss the patterns they saw, and their hypotheses. You can then tell them of the various hypotheses the original authors tested, their results, and the final conclusion they reached. Finally, Group Worksheet #3 may be assigned as either a homework or second day activity. It asks the students to develop ways to deal with the Hawthorne Effect as a potential source of bias.

Reference List

• Roethlisberger, F. J. and Dickson, W. J. (1941). Management and the Worker: An Account of a Research Program Conducted by the Western Electric Company, Hawthorne Works, Chicago. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. [The original source. Our library has this volume and we could place it on reserve for interested faculty. Xeroxed portions of pertinent material are available from the SCI director or Tim Brazill.]
• Singleton, R.A, Jr., Straits, B. C. & Straits, M..M. (1993). Approaches to Social Research. New York, NY. Oxford University Press. [A good social science research methods text, with some background on the Hawthorne research, and discussion of standard design features developed to counteract these types of biases.]
• Babbie, E. The Practice of Social Research (1998). Belmont, CA. Wadsworth. [The default standard in social science research methods texts, but note that his description of particulars from the Hawthorne research is faulty.]