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example of the double blind experimental design, one of the most importantcauses of expectancy effects is eliminated.Although the use of covert strategies (disguise, deception, withholdinginformation) is one of the most effective ways of minimizing, or eveneliminating, observation effects, there are fundamental ethical objections to thewholesale use of this approach. Covert research necessarily implies that thesubject is deceived, or that his or her right to privacy is broken, or that he orshe has to be lied to. The dilemma with which the researcher is confronted, istherefore how to weigh the moral interests of the subject against the interests ofscience. A number of authors have proposed suggestions about how toneutralize the negative ethical implications of covert research. One approachinvolves asking the permission of the subject to use the information gatheredimmediately upon completion of the study while obviously still ensuring theanonymity of the subject. Martin Bulmer’s Social research ethics (1981) maybe consulted for an excellent exposition of the ethical implications ofparticipant observation and covert research.Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.zaCONTROL GROUPIt has always been the norm to make use of control groups in experimentalstudies wherever possible. Apart from the experimental group, to which thespecific experimental treatment is applied, or in which given interventions aremade, a comparable control group is used which does not undergo theexperimental treatment. In an attempt to ensure that the experimental andcontrol groups are comparable, use is made of techniques such as the randomassignment of participants to either the experimental or control groups(randomization), or to the matching of participants in the two groups. Ifsignificant differences were to be found in the experimental group which havenot occurred in the control group, it would be reasonable to conclude that theexperimental interventions (or the implementation of the so-called independentvariable) have been the cause of the observed difference. By making use of acontrol group, it is possible to control for participant effects such asmaturation, history, and selection effects. We would, however, recommend thatresearchers who intend making use of an experimental approach in theirresearch, should carefully study the most important participant effects that arelikely to occur in different types of experimental design, and what measuresmay be taken to eliminate these (Cf., for example, Cook and Camp-bell’sexcellent book (1979) on quasi-experimentation).TRAININGThe adequate training of experimenters, interviewers, research assistants, fieldworkers, and so on, is a necessary precondition for any research. One of thespecific aims in training of this nature, is to counteract researcher effects. In94