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12 - Debriefing and Post-Experimental Procedures

from Part II - The Building Blocks of a Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2023

By
Travis D. Clark  and
Ginette Blackhart
Edited by
Austin Lee Nichols  and
John Edlund
Austin Lee Nichols
Affiliation:
Central European University, Vienna
John Edlund
Affiliation:
Rochester Institute of Technology, New York
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Summary

The steps social and behavioral scientists take after the end of a study are just as important as the steps taken before and during it. The goal of this chapter is to discuss the practical and ethical considerations that should be addressed before participants leave the physical or virtual study space. We review several post-experimental techniques, including the debriefing, manipulation checks, attention checks, mitigating participant crosstalk, and probing for participant suspicion regarding the purpose of the study. Within this review, we address issues with the implementation of each post-experimental technique as well as best practices for their use, with an emphasis placed on prevention of validity threats and the importance of accurate reporting of the steps taken after the experiment ends. Finally, we emphasize the importance of continuing to develop and empirically test post-experimental practices, with suggestions for future research.

Keywords

DebriefingManipulation CheckCrosstalkSuspicion ProbeAttention CheckInstructional Manipulation Check
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Research Methods and Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences
Volume 1: Building a Program of Research
 , pp. 244 - 266
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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References

Further Reading

For a detailed example of a funnel debriefing procedure and the empirical test of various post-experimental practices including suspicion probing, we recommend the following article:

For further discussion of the history and progression of manipulation checks as well as specific recommendations for their use, we recommend Table 4 in the following article:

We are proponents of manipulation checks (with the proper precautions), but criticisms of manipulation checks should be seriously considered. For further reading on critiques of manipulation check practices we recommend the following article:

Blackhart, G. C., Brown, K. E., Clark, T., Pierce, D. L., & Shell, K. (2012). Assessing the adequacy of postexperimental inquiries in deception re-search and the factors that promote participant honesty. Behavior Research Methods, 44, 24–40. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-011-0132-6Google Scholar
Ejelöv, E. & Luke, T. (2020). “Rarely safe to assume”: Evaluating the use and interpretation of manipulation checks in experimental social psychology. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 87, 103937. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2019.103937Google Scholar
Hauser, D., Ellsworth, P., & Gonzalez, R. (2018). Are manipulation checks necessary? Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 998. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00998CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

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