[from Gary Cziko 930419.2041 GMT]
I shouldn't be asking Bill Powers a question when I still owe some answers
to Greg Williams, but doing the former is a lot easier than doing the
latter, so here goes.
Bill Powers (930418.0900) said:
There is one certain way to see whether any given approach to
behavior is based on S-R theory: look at its experimental
methodology. This cuts through all the verbal BS and shows you
what the underlying model is. Throughout the behavioral sciences,
the almost universal practice is to hold all variables constant
as nearly as possible, and then vary just one thing -- the
schedule of reinforcement, the stimulus, the situation --, while
recording the change in behavior. The more careful scientists
also run dummy experiments -- odd that they should call them
"control" experiments -- in which the critical manipulation is
replaced by some neutral operation, so the effects of merely
doing the experiment can be factored out. The results of such
studies are reported, almost universally, as "The effect of
treatment A on behavior B."
I agree that when subjects are engaging in "good" perceptual control that
the independent variabe-dependent variable (IV-DV) approach to research is
problematic. But I wonder about research in which reorganization (i.e.,
learning, development) is of main concern.
Given that individuals are controlling certain perceptions, it would seem
to be that the environment could be considered as a type of IV while the DV
is the resulting reorganization. Consider a child acquiring language. It
doesn't surprise that a child in the U.S. will learn English while one in
Mexico will learn Spanish. They may be both controlling for the same types
of variables, but in one environment one language is effective while in
another setting another language must be used. There may also be more
subtle differences which could have effects on reorganization, such as how
easy it is to get mom's attention, whether there are other siblings to
compete with , etc.
In this situations why would it problematic to consider some aspect of the
environment the IV and the resulting reorganization the DV? Maybe the
IV-DV model makes sense in some educational research after all.--Gary
P.S. Maybe this would be a good opportunity to get Joel Judd back into our
discussions and take his mind off the difficulties of publishing
PCT-contaminated papers. I suspect that Joel has thought a lot about this
one.
···
------------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Cziko Telephone: 217-333-8527
Educational Psychology FAX: 217-244-7620
University of Illinois E-mail: g-cziko@uiuc.edu
1310 S. Sixth Street Radio: N9MJZ
210 Education Building
Champaign, Illinois 61820-6990
USA
------------------------------------------------------------------