Annette -
Would you accept pseudoexperiments as "experimental", because that's what I
see this as. The IV seems to be gender, which is not a true independent
variable. The DV would be helping behavior. My ideas on causal connections
would be based on a feminist viewpoint that, in a public place where most
of those around you are strangers, men are much freer to approach someone
who is in need of help. I know that as a woman I would feel very uneasy
approaching a stranger, espcecially if the stranger was male. 'Course
there's also the guy x car thing that may make more males feel that they
actually *can* provide assistance.
The term "correlational" study is not a good one to me because that implies
interval level data or above. (As gender increases... :) ) However, if you
mean that we record what the variable levels for each participant and then
create a contingency table, then it would be a simple matter of saying
something like, "males are more likely to demonstrate helping behavior than
are females" (in this particular setting, of course). The big third
variable I see at the moment is the sex of the individual needing help.
Johnna
At 12:29 PM -0800 3/31/99, Annette Taylor wrote:
>I'd like to know how some of you Tipsters would do this assignment:
>I asked them to if the following study is correlational or experimental.
>If correlational describe if it is a positive or negative relationship and
>list possible third variables and/or confounds.
>If experimental, briefly describe the causal relationship between A and B.
>
>OK so far--they had five scenarios and most students did them all
>correctly, except that zero of them saw the next one the way I did:
>
>Despite popular belief, men are just as likely to 'help' as women are.
>In fact, one study indicated that they were more likely than women to
>engage in helping behavior. When confederate men and women were staged
>in a parking lot having apparently locked their keys in their car, 80%
>of the individuals who came to see if they needed help were men. (The
>staging was done so that equal numbers of men and women would pass by.)
>
>
>Well, I'll look for some answers before I give you mine and what my
>thinking was. I jsut want to know that _someone_ other than myself
>saw this this the way I did, alternatively, I may be wrong and need
>to go back and regrade these homework assignments :-)
>
>annette
>
Johnna K. Shapiro, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Illinois Wesleyan University "Thousands of years ago,
Bloomington, IL 61702 cats were worshipped as gods.
309/556-3164 or 556-3803 Cats have never forgotten this."
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web: http://titan.iwu.edu/~jshapiro =^..^= Anonymous
