Creating a social experiment (2.5 page paper double spaced)

SAMPLE

Testing Bathroom Gender Norms

The social experiment that I have chosen to conduct was influenced by both Stanley

Milgram’s shockexperimentandAsch’slineexperimentinthatitwillmeasurethedegree that everydaypeopleobeyauthoritywhenputinsocialsituations.Iaminterestedinthistopic because I have taken both psychology and sociology courses and have conducted a similar experiment in the past. I will determine the degree of conformity by placing “male” and “female” signs on doors and measuring the difference between the control group and the experimental group. I believe that after conducting this experiment, the data will show that people do follow signs of authority.

Procedures and methodology

1. First, during a busy period at Coastline’s Newport Beach campus I will record how many students go through each door (left and right), and what their gender is over a thirty minute period. It would be helpful to have several other researchers with me and assign each person

to record a particular group. Since no signs are placed on the doors yet, this will be the

control group to which I will compare my following results. This step will have to be repeated many times in order to collect a large amount of data.

2. Next, I’ll create both “male” and “female” signs. For best results, I’ll make them look as official as possible. For the purpose of my experiment I would make sure to have the words “males enter through this door” and “females enter through this door” on each sign with bold, large, and easy to read font.

3. Next we will set up the conditions for our experimental group. It is important to make this situation as similar to the control group as possible (except for the signs on the door). So in

this case the experiment must be on the same day of the week (preferably a week later), the same time, and the same doors. The signs must be placed on the doors so they are easily identifiable.

4. Finally, researchers record data for the experimental group. It is extremely important that researchers measure the total number of people that walk through both doors, the total number of women that obeyed, the total number of women who disobeyed, the total number of men who obeyed, and the total number of men who disobeyed. We will also make sure to switch the sides of “male” and “female” signs on the doors, due to the fact that people mostly walk through the door on their right. This step will have to be repeated as many times as step one. 5. Compare the data from both the control group and the experimental group. Determine if there is a trend in the data.

Limitations

This experiment, like any will experience certain flaws. It is quite possible that people walking through the doors will notice a group or people staring at them and recording data. This could certainly skew results. In addition, people may see signs on the door and deliberately disobey because they think it is silly. There may be no trend at all in the data due to the fact that people follow the rules of traffic when walking through crowds (keep to the right).