RESPONSE - Insead

Methodology Experiment Protocols
even though no training intervention occurred. The experimental design thus controls for the
differential impact of the meditation coaching vis­à­vis a regular executive education training day.
8.4.3 Natural resources
Participants from the company in the natural resources sector were drawn from a uniform professional
profile of young managers who had attended the company’s internal management development
programme within the previous two years, which included a whole day session on CSR/Sustainable
Development. These 31 managers were all based in the same country. Participants were randomly
allocated to one of three groups: The first group attended the same mental silence­based meditation
coaching programme, like in the other experiments. The second group attended a parallel coaching
programme of Hatha yoga, which focused on relaxation and stress­release techniques. This group
functioned as the “active control”, an optimal way to control for “placebo” (or “Hawthorne”) effects,
since the two “yoga” programs were non­distinguishable from the participant’s point of view and
produced the same perception of being part of a scientific study aimed at developing social
consciousness, and observed in their behaviour. A third group acted as the standard (weighting list,
passive) control and provided a baseline measure of pre­ and post­experiment tests without
experiencing any intervention 20 .
This three arm, randomised, controlled design with both a passive and a (credible) active control is
considered to be capable of generating the highest quality of scientific evidence of change in human
subjects, since it acts as a control for any type of intervention effects.
In addition to the web­survey, the measurement in this experiment also included a bio­feedback test
that involved measurements of Heart Rate Variability and skin temperature. This was introduced to
gain objective measures of physiological arousal in sympathetic activation, which is expected to
decline more in deeper meditative states, compared to relaxation states.
Figure 14: Three­Arm, Randomized, Double Control Experiment Design (Oil
company)
The second intervention followed an identical format as for the main group but with Hatha yoga
replacing mediation as the intervention technique. This group thus maintained comparable conditions
with the main group while controlling for general feelings of well­being due to relaxation, as well as for
“placebo” effects given by the knowledge of being part of an experiment aimed at studying social
responsibility. The Hatha yoga training was delivered by the president of the national association of
specialised instructors.
The following table summarizes the characteristics of the four settings, the logic of each design and
the number of participants that completed both the pre­ and post­intervention measurements.
20 This group was given the opportunity to attend the mediation training after their post­intervention
test in order to fulfil the obligation to the volunteers to provide a six­week training programme.
RESPONSE: understanding and responding to societal demands on corporate responsibility
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