Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Table of Contents - 2004 - Volume 27, Issue 02  


Short Communication

The birth of a confounded idea: The joys and pitfalls of self-experimentation

Martin Voracek a1 and Maryanne L. Fisher a2
a1 School of Psychology, University of Vienna, A-1010 Vienna, Austria martin.voracek@univie.ac.at http://mailbox.univie.ac.at/martin.voracek/
a2 Department of Psychology, St. Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3C3, Canada mlfisher@smu.ca

Abstract

According to Roberts, self-experimentation is a viable tool for idea generation in the behavioral sciences. Here we discuss some limitations of this assertion, as well as particular design and data-analytic shortcomings of his experiments.