Psychology Research methods essays

Psychology Research methods essays Sobel and Lilliths study into the determinants of nonstationary personal space invasion, sets out to examine and explore the behavior and reaction of subjects whose personal space may be violated or crossed into. The study, which was conducted in April 1974 on 34th street in New York City, examined 116 subjects using 2 observers and 2 experimenters. The notion of bias, both for the authors as well as the observers plays a strong part in this study. Both authors have a preconceived idea of what to expect in the study. The authors have developed hypothesiss to back up their theories before the study has started. This type of bias would influence the way in which the study is carried out. As it is a single blind experiment, the observers know what the purpose of the study is. With the observers being aware of this, they also have a preconceived notion of what to expect. An example of this would be if 4 men pulled off first, to avoid brushing into a female. And there is a discrepancy in a 5th subject who is also a man and who is walking towards a female; the observers would tend to say that the man pulled off first, because the 4 previous subjects adhered to the same criteria. The authors failed to mention the age, gender, race and socioeconomic status of their observers in the article. They also failed to mention the racial background of the experimenters. All the subjects that were used in this study were of middle age, and of middle class background. Each person has a different idea of what a middle class person is supposed to look like, depending on clothing, style of dress, jewelry, etc. The observers are making a judgment based on the outward appearance of the subjects to their socioeconomic status. The authors are also assuming that the majority of people on this selected street will be middle age/middle class people. While this type of behavior pattern might be common in big metropolitan centers like NYC. T...