The Hawthorne Effect

The Hawthorne Effect is invoked to explain many effects of experiments with human subjects (as opposed to inanimate objects like transistors and generators). But the effect is not as simply defined as many people think. Ref [1] is reprinted here with the kind permission of the Western Electric Company. Ref [2] is the first book on the subject of the Hawthorne Researches and the Hawthorne Effect. Ref [3] is the second book on the topic and is reviewed on page 17 of this Transactions. I commend this article and that book to your attention.