evaluation

• evaluate real life application

  • studying romanian orphans has enhanced our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation
  • this has led to improvements in the way children are cared for in institutions. they avoid having many carer for each child and instead 1/2 workers called key workers.
  • children can form normal attahcment rather than disinhibited.
  • research has been valuable
• evaluate fewer extraneous variables than other orphan studies

  • many orphan studies before romanian orphans became available to study but often these studies involved children who had experienced loss or trauma
  • so, traumatised by their experiences, very hard to study effects of institutionalisation as multiple confounding participant variables
  • with romanian studies, it has been possible to study without these confounding variables
  • findings have increased internal validity
• evaluate romanian orphans were not typical

  • conditions so bad that results cannot be applied to better quality institutional care
  • for example, romanina orphanages had poor standards of care, especially when it came to forming any relationship with the children.
  • the unusual situational variables mean the studies lack generalisability