Probing suspicion among participants in deception research.

Seven introductory psychology students were led to believe they were participating in a study of the effect of practice task feedback on subsequent performance. When left alone by the experimenter, Ss compared the feedback they had received and discovered it was false. When the experimenter returned, Ss continued to participate as though nothing had happened. After announcing that the experiment involved deception, the experimenter asked on 3 separate occasions whether Ss were suspicious of the procedures or of anything that had happened in the experiment. Not only did Ss fail to divulge their knowledge of the deception, but their responses to manipulation check questions completed before the questioning provided little evidence that they were aware of the deception. Results indicate that investigators (in any field) who fail to adequately assess participant suspicions and perceptions are jeopardizing the tests of their hypotheses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)