research study comparison essay

Introduction
For the core assessment, you will choose TWO extended case studies and will write an essay comparing and critically evaluating their ethical challenges and the strategies used to minimize or guard against harmful results.

NOTE: The two studies should have something in common: A similar topic, the method, the same ethical principles or conflict. They should also differ in the way that they addressed the ethical issues in question. Be sure to make both the similarities and differences clear to the reader. Your essay will consist of a careful, point-by-point contrast of the two cases.

Here is a list of the extended case studies for you to choose your two studies from. You should get the complete article for each study (go to https://library.park.edu/home to an external site.) so you will have detailed and complete information to use in your essay.



For this core assessment, I chose The Robbers Cave Experiment (Sherif et al., 1961) and 'Zimbardo Prison Experiment' (Zimbardo, 1972, 1973; Zimbardo et al., 1973, 1974)
I have decided to compare these two case studies due to the unethical nature of the experiments conducted, as well as the similarly aggressive results from both experiments. I also want to compare them in terms of beneficence, autonomy, maleficence, and justice.

'Zimbardo Prison Experiment' (Zimbardo, 1972, 1973; Zimbardo et al., 1973, 1974)
Male students, testing psychologically "normal," were divided randomly into "prisoners" and "guards." Prisoners were given plain uniforms, numbers, and had all personal effects removed. Guards were given military-style uniforms, nightsticks, and mirrored sunglasses. Prisoners were incarcerated in cells and had to maintain their roles around the clock. Guards were given eight-hour shifts and told simply to maintain a "reasonable degree of order" without inflicting physical harm.

The prisoners soon began antagonizing the guards and the guards rapidly resorted to mental and physical abuse to maintain order among the prisoners. Though the experiment was scheduled for two weeks, conditions became so dangerous that it was called on the sixth day.


The Robbers Cave Experiment (Sherif et al., 1961)
In the summer of 1954, two sets of 11-year-old boys were bused from Oklahoma City to a camp in the San Bois Mountains. The boys had been pre-selected through an intensive, multi-method process as normal, well-adjusted, having similar educational and socioeconomic backgrounds, and no "unusual" personal histories. The parents knew about and consented to the experiment, but the boys only thought they were heading for a typical summer camp experience.

The boys were randomly selected into two groups, brought separately to the camp, and segregated from one another for the first week. They were involved in camp activities that built group cohesion, and each group chose a name (Eagles and Rattlers), began sporting their name on clothing and emblems, and developed their own group rituals.

By the end of the first week, the groups discovered one another, began berating the others, and asked to engage in competition. Those competitive activities had already been planned as part of the experiment. In the next week, they were pitted against one another in a series of contests for prizes, and what started as name calling escalated into open hostility: commando raids on the other group's cabin, humiliating pranks, vandalism, and isolated fistfights.

The Eagles and Rattlers were facing off for armed combat with rocks, clubs, and knives, when that phase of the experiment was halted. Over the next two weeks, the researchers involved the two groups in a series of shared challenges that reversed their bitter enmity, and the boys left the Robber's Cave experiment with strongly developed cross-group bonds.

I NEED AN ESSAY OUTLINE AND A 5-6 PAGE PROFESSIONAL ESSAY NO LATER THAN APRIL 15 11:59PM