Discussion Questions

What differentiates reality shows like Undercover Boss, Dirty Jobs, and The Real World from scientific sociological participant and non-participant observations?
The ABC News show What Would You Do? creates experiments to test human behavior. Which of the types of experiments discussed in the chapter (laboratory, natural, and field) do these experiments most closely resemble? What would have to change to make them scientific?
Do you think that the results yielded from the Milgram and Zimbardo experiments were beneficial enough to outweigh the ethical concerns of the experiments? Follow-up questionnaires with Milgram’s participants found that most were “glad” they had participated. Does that surprise you?
Do you think the Tuskegee syphilis experiment has any lasting impact today? Are people suspicious of researchers because of experiments like this?
If you were going to be a participant in a research study, which type of research methodology would you want to be a part of and why?

Introduction to Sociology