Critiquing Academic ‘Facts’

As a teacher of academic English, evaluating research is an inevitable part of our work. Yet… this one completely blindsided me.

Zimbardo’s prison experiment has been discussed (and debated and critiqued) a number of times, but this was mostly concerning its research ethics. We’ve also seen this experiment in academic books, journals, TED talks, and even a Hollywood movie.

And when we talk about evaluating research, we usually include two points that are relevant here:

• Who’s the researcher? Zimbardo was the head of the American Psychological Association at one point… talk about credibility!
• What’s the source? Academic books (so many of them), academic journals… the best of the best.

Recently, though, a number of articles (both academic and otherwise) have done a pretty good job of completely debunking the experiment, claiming it could be completely false.

Apparently, the research was quite possibly rigged to nudge participants in the right direction:

• Guards were trained and given specific instructions.
• Participants always knew they were in an experiment.
• And some even knew what to do to please the researchers and/or get paid.

Now the field of psychology has faced a lot of criticism recently, and there’s distrust when it comes to scientific research in general these days.

But I’m a firm believer that current research is being held to higher standards. While it might not produce sensational headlines and Hollywood movie material, the data process is more rigorous. And the global competition researchers deal with these days should make them a lot more cautious. Even the process of debunking and critiquing one another is healthy.

I just hope it doesn’t cause people to lose faith in research as a whole, especially when such criticism is the best part of the research process.

Now, to go back to the experiment, as a teacher who has shared these ‘facts’ and Zimbardo’s results in so many classes, I felt personally insulted (that I had slipped up or something). But this was a wake-up call… to always question everything (despite how exhausting that might be).

How about you… any ‘facts’ that you now disbelieve for any reason?