THE HEALTHY CONTROL SUBJECT IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH - IMPULSIVENESS AND VOLUNTEER BIAS

Citation
Jp. Gustavsson et al., THE HEALTHY CONTROL SUBJECT IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH - IMPULSIVENESS AND VOLUNTEER BIAS, Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica, 96(5), 1997, pp. 325-328
Citations number
35
Categorie Soggetti
Psychiatry,Psychiatry
ISSN journal
0001690X
Volume
96
Issue
5
Year of publication
1997
Pages
325 - 328
Database
ISI
SICI code
0001-690X(1997)96:5<325:THCSIP>2.0.ZU;2-U
Abstract
Exciting and demanding biomedical experiments may attract a specific s ubgroup of people as volunteers. In the present study of selection bia s, subjects volunteering in a psychobiological study that included a p otentially painful procedure (lumbar puncture) were compared with thos e who declined to participate, with regard to scores on personality sc ales administered during a previous investigation of the same subjects . Significant differences were Sound on the Eysenck Personality Questi onnaire and Karolinska Scales of Personality Impulsiveness scale, sugg esting an over-representation of impulsive individuals among the volun teers. If the specific subject of investigation has implications for t he type of individual who will participate as a healthy volunteer in b iomedical research, variation will be introduced, affecting the indepe ndent variable, and the conclusions that can be drawn from such resear ch may be questionable.