ASSIGNMENT #1

Scientific and Non-Scientific Research

Use a word processor in preparing your responses to the questions in Part A, Part B, and Part C.  Use the section headings (Part A, B, C) and numbers (1, 2, 3…) so that I can follow you easily.

Headline:  Students Are Victims of Police Abuse*

Line A:            “Everybody I have talked to tells me that police pick on college students. 

Line B:            Now, I’m going to prove it once and for all,” said Prof. Nonsci of

Line C:            Whatsamatta U.  Prof. Nonsci is new to WhatU, and we can find little

Line D:            information about his background and experience.

Line E:            We can report, however, that Prof. Nonsci interviewed students here on

Line F:             campus.  He reports that 40 percent of the students in his classes (45 out of

Line G:            130) tell him that they have been hassled by police at least once since

Line H:            enrolling in the school.  He finds that men are more likely than women to

Line I:             be hassled.

Line J:             In fact, one student reports:  “My twelve fraternity brothers all have had

Line K:            run-ins with the police in this town.” 

Line L:           When asked how he chose students to interview, Prof. Nonsci said “I need

Line M:           to protect students’ privacy.  I cannot comment further.”

*Reproduced from The Whatsamatta Times (the Whatsamatta U. student-run paper)

Part A:  (14 points)

The (made-up) letter above contains many examples of NON-scientific thinking.

Match each term below with the Line (A through M) where it appears.  (Do not re-use a Line.  That is, use any one Line one time only in Part A.)  Then, DISCUSS WHY the material is an example of the term.

1)      Inability to replicate results

2)      Absolutist thinking

3)   Non-representative sampling

4)   Sloppy (inaccurate) methods

5)  Failure to disclose information about affiliations and funding sources so that possible

biases can be seen.

6)  Selective observation

7)  Overgeneralization

Part B: (4 points)

Provide two examples of scientific thinking in the (made-up) letter.  Again refer to the Line where the example occurs and be clear about WHY this represents an aspect of scientific thinking.

Part C:  (12 points)

Here are six examples of studies that might be done with “human subjects.”  Discuss the extent to which each IS or IS NOT ethical.  Use the technical terms from the “Code of Ethics” in providing your response.

1. A psychology instructor asks students in an introductory class to complete questionnaires that the instructor will analyze and use in preparing a journal article for publication.

2. After an observational study of deviant behavior during a riot, law enforcement officials demand that the researcher identify those persons who were observed looting. Rather than risk arrest as an accomplice after the fact, the researcher complies.

3. After completing the final draft of a book reporting a research project, the author discovers that 25 of the 2,000 survey interviews were falsified by interviewers but chooses to ignore that fact and publish the book anyway.

4. A college instructor wants to test the effect of unfair berating on exam performance. She administers an exam to both sections of a course. The overall performance of the two sections is essentially the same. The grades of one section are artificially lowered and the instructor berates the students for performing so badly. She then administers the same final exam to both sections and discovers that the performance of the unfairly berated section is worse. The hypothesis is confirmed, and the results are published.

5. A professor has spent a lot of time helping a student prepare for his thesis.  After the student graduates, the professor rewrites the thesis turning it into an article and lists himself/herself as the sole author.

6. A student joins an Internet discussion board about the sports car that she drives. She occasionally posts some responses on the board and decides to do a sociological study about the sense of community experienced by members. She attends a car rally sponsored by the discussion board and mingles with participants. She uses archived discussion posts and notes she kept while at car rallies for her study.

DUE BY TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 10:30 a.m.

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