ABSTRACT

In his classic study of life in a psychiatric hospital, Rosenhan (1973) describes the way that covert sociologists who took notes within the hospital setting were fully accepted as patients by the medical staff. The researchers’ constant note-taking of every activity that occurred was taken as sure proof that they were insane! Such ‘compulsive writing activity’ could only be a sign that these pseudo-patients were really as mad as the rest of the inmates.