Narrator: Listen to a conversation between a student and her sociology professor.

旁白：请听一段学生和她的社会学教授的对话。

Professor: I'm glad you got my message and were able to make it.

教授：我很高兴你收到了我的信息能够赶来。

But where are the other members of your group?

你小组的其他成员在哪里？

Tom and Jane?

汤姆和简呢？

Woman: They are actually at the library.

女生：他们实际上是在图书馆。

They have a biology lab assignment that's due later this afternoon.

他们有一个生物实验作业今天下午晚些时候要交。

So I'm here to represent the whole group.

所以我现在代表整个小组。

But... um... when we got your e-mail message about being worried about our research project, we were a little confused, we thought you were excited about our idea for the project.

但是……嗯…当我们收到你的邮件表示担心我们的研究项目时，我们有点困惑，我们原以为你会对我们的想法感到很高兴。

Professor: Well, I think it's a great research topic, but when I looked closely at your plan for accomplishing the research, I realized that your group was probably asking for some trouble.

教授：嗯，我认为这是一个很好的研究课题，但是当我仔细查看你们的实施计划时，我发现你们小组可能会遇到一些麻烦。

Woman: What do you mean?

女生：你是什么意思呢？

I thought that, you know, by monitoring students studying in the library we could really get a good understanding of people's study habits and stuff.

我认为，你知道的，通过监测学生在图书馆学习，我们就能很好地理解人们的学习习惯等等。

Professor: The thing is, I think you might have a problem because of the Hawthorne Effect.

教授：事情是这样的，我觉得你可能由于霍桑效应而有一个问题。

Woman: The Hawthorne Effect?

女生：霍桑效应？

Professor: The Hawthorne effect is a technical term for when researchers ... uh... more or less forget about a specific variable, the variable of the researchers themselves.

教授：霍桑效应是一个技术术语，当研究人员的……嗯……或多或少忘记一个特定的变量，研究人员自身的变量。

Now, the students in the library, they are going to know that you are observing them, right?

现在，学生们在图书馆里，他们会知道你是在观察他们，对吗？

So you have to consider the effect your very presence will have on the people you are observing.

所以你必须考虑你的存在对你正在观察的人将会产生的影响。

Woman: But... so you think...

女生：但是……所以你认为……

I mean it's not like our observations would be a secret.

我是说，我们的观察不会是个秘密。

The students would know exactly what we would be doing.

学生会很清楚地知道我们在做什么。

I mean, we'd put up a sign right outside the library.

我的意思是，我们会在图书馆外设置一个标志。

Professor: Yes, but that's just it.

教授：是的，就是它。

When people know they are being watched, they act differently.

当人们知道他们正在被监视时，他们的行为会变得不同。

Let me explain how the Hawthorne effect got its name and... well... you'll get the idea.

让我解释霍桑效应如何得名的……你会懂的。

See, there was a manufacturing facility called the Hawthorne plant.

看，有一个叫做霍桑工厂的制造工厂。

And researchers conducted some experiments there to see what conditions make workers the most productive.

研究人员进行了一些实验，看看什么条件能使工人最富有成效。

Woman: What sort of conditions?

女生：什么样的条件？

Professor: Well, one thing they experimented with was the lights.

教授：他们实验的变量之一是灯光。

Were workers more productive with bright lights or dim lights?

工人在明亮的灯光还是昏暗的灯光下工作更有效率？

Well, here is the thing, whatever the researchers did, the workers' productivity increased.

好了，情况是这样的，无论研究人员做了什么，工人的生产率都会增加。

When the lighting was improved, productivity went up.

当照明改进时，生产率上升。

When the lighting was dimmed, productivity went up again.

当光线变暗时，生产率再次上升了。

Woman: That doesn't make a lot of sense.

女生：这并不合理。

Professor: Exactly! So initially the experiment was considered a failure.

教授：完全正确！所以最初，实验被认为是失败的。

But then the researchers realized that their own presence had affected the workers' productivity.

但是后来研究者们意识到自己的存在影响了工人的生产力。

The workers knew that the researchers were watching them, and with so much attention on them the workers felt compelled to work harder.

工人们知道研究者们在看着他们，在这么多的关注下，他们觉得必须更加努力的工作。

Woman: Oh, I guess that really could be an issue with my group's research.

女人：哦，我想这真的可能是我们小组调查的一个问题。

Professor: Yes, but I don't want to send you all back to square one.

教授：是的，但是我不想让你再从头再来。

So how about you set up a meeting with your group members and discuss this.

所以你可以和你的小组成员开个会讨论一下这个问题。

Then we can meet again and go over your ideas.

然后我们可以再次见面谈谈你的想法。

And I think that we should be able to figure out a way to get around the problem.

我认为我们应该能够找到一个方法来解决这个问题。