Pilot Studies

• Define a pilot study

  A small scale investigation conducted before the main study
• What are 5 problems pilot studies aim to check

  1)Experimental design - do the participants have enough time to complete the tasks?

  2)Instructions for participants – are the instructions clear

  3)Time - If the study is taking up too much of the ppt’s time, not able to continue normal activities for the rest of the day (not conforming to normal standards of the pilot study)

  4)Ceiling/floor effects = too easy/hard (this would produce data which would be too difficult to analyse)

  5)Data - If there is an even spread of data
• Why are pilot studies carried out beforehand?

  Is a way to ensure time, effort and money are not wasted on a flawed methodology.

  It is important that a pilot study uses a sample that although smaller, is representative of the target population that will be used in the main research.
• Give benefits of pilot studies

  • Prevents full scale, expensive studies being conducted with fixable errors
  • Saves time
  • No resources wasted
  • Protects the professionalism & prestige of the research/psychology as a discipline
• Give limitations of pilot studies

  • Prevents the main study from taking place sooner
  • May cause lengthy delays
  • May not be effective in preventing errors from occurring
  • Still expensive so needs to be funded
  • Delays publication of research
  • Elongates the academic process.