Hassett et al
strengths (tips on how to answer below!!!!)
Reliability
A strength is High in Reliability which means the consistency of a measure,
remains the same after multiple attempts. Study is conducted in a laboratory
outdoor setting set which tends to have high levels of standardization;
including monkeys first being kept indoors, position of toys in the outdoor
area, counterbalancing plush and wheeled toys in the 7 trials and the
selection of toys to represent masculine or feminine. In conclusion, having a
highly standardized procedure allows another researcher to be able to
replicate the study to test for reliability.
Application to real-life
A strength of the study is that it is highly applicable to real life. This means
that the findings from a study can be used in everyday life situations to
benefit humans and animals. For example, and useful for companies that
design and manufacture toys to increase their sales as they will know boys
toys needs to have wheels on them and for girls can be more varied
including toys to be soft with other types of materials, additionally to help in
rehabilitation of rhesus monkeys who have been rescued from the wild, to
help social bonding through play, also zoos could provide wheeled toys for
males and females plush toy. Doing so helps zookeepers provide a
comfortable environment for Vulnerable monkeys.
Weaknesses
Ecological validity
A weakness of the study is that it is low in ecological validity which means
the setting and tasks are not a realistic life representation. For example, the
artificial setting of the outdoor area where cameras were set up to observe
the monkeys interacting with toy , toys were strategically placed 10 m apart
from each other, interacting with toy for 25 minutes, which is not enough
time to interact with toys because in reality interacting with toys is unlimited
time, furthermore the tasks lack mundane realism as monkey being given a
forced toy choice (plush or wheeled only no variety), being observed for
specific behavior such as sit on or carry in arm where monkeys can exhibit
various other behaviors that may not fit those on behavior checklist, moneys