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Problems and Exercises I
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Read the following description of an observational study carefully and then answer the questions that follow.

An investigator wished to test the hypothesis that students attending School A are more courteous than students attending School B. As a test of her hypothesis, she observed whether or not students at these schools held the door open for another student when entering a building. She observed students entering the door of the student cafeteria on the campus of School A, and students using the door of a main classroom building at School B. In order to make her observations, she positioned herself so that she had a clear view of the door and the people entering the buildings. Observations were made first at School A. For a two-week period she observed students for three hours each weekday, Monday through Friday. The hours chosen for the daily observations were 7:30-8:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., and 5:30-6:30 p.m. Following the two-week observation period at School A, she conducted observations at School B at the same times (and days) for the next two weeks. Thus, at the end of the study she had observed students at each school for 30 hours. Her results revealed that during the time she observed students at School A, a total of 642 people held the door open. At School B she observed only 352 people to hold open the door. She concluded that students at School A are more courteous than are the students at School B.



1

Is reactivity a problem in this study? Explain.
2

What problems can you identify in the way that she made her observations, especially in terms of time and place?
3

Can you identify why the researcher's results are really meaningless as she has reported them? Explain how it may even be possible that just the opposite is true, that is, that students at School B are more likely to hold open the door than are students at School A?





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