Naturalistic Observation
Naturalistic Observation:
“Does stop mean stop?”
Cathleen Schlosser
PSYU 101: Introduction to Psychology, Summer Session 1
Audra Mahoney
22 May 2013
Description of Study The aim of this experiment is to evaluate the amount of drivers that actually stop at a stop sign. I hypothesize that majority of drivers would come to a complete stop no matter on the age of the driver, gender of the driver, the type of car, how many people are in the car and what the weather was like. To carry out this experiment, two observation sessions were made on two different days; one was done on a nice sunny day with temperatures around 63 degrees, the second was done on a day that it was rainy and chilly with temperatures around 51 degrees. The first observation session took 1 hour and 30 minutes the second took 1 hour and 15 minutes. The intersection that was chosen for the experiment is right in front of my house and can be observed with an unobstructed view and none of the drivers could see me observing them.
Methodology
Participants
Forty drivers were observed at the stop sign in their vehicle, Twenty three of the drivers were female and seventeen were male. This study was done on two separate days, 50% were observed on the first day and the other 50 % were observed on the second day. The age range groups were 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. Fifteen of the drivers were driving a SUV (sport utility vehicle), seventeen of the drivers were driving a car, five were driving a mini vans and three were driving a truck.
Design
This experiment design is based on an observation for collecting data. I made sure that the participants were not involved and will not be interacted with. There are no ethical issues because the participants I observed are not physically involved with me as an observer as they did not know they were being observed.
Material
The material used in this experiment consisted of an intersection in a neighborhood with a two way stop within one block
“Does stop mean stop?”
Cathleen Schlosser
PSYU 101: Introduction to Psychology, Summer Session 1
Audra Mahoney
22 May 2013
Description of Study The aim of this experiment is to evaluate the amount of drivers that actually stop at a stop sign. I hypothesize that majority of drivers would come to a complete stop no matter on the age of the driver, gender of the driver, the type of car, how many people are in the car and what the weather was like. To carry out this experiment, two observation sessions were made on two different days; one was done on a nice sunny day with temperatures around 63 degrees, the second was done on a day that it was rainy and chilly with temperatures around 51 degrees. The first observation session took 1 hour and 30 minutes the second took 1 hour and 15 minutes. The intersection that was chosen for the experiment is right in front of my house and can be observed with an unobstructed view and none of the drivers could see me observing them.
Methodology
Participants
Forty drivers were observed at the stop sign in their vehicle, Twenty three of the drivers were female and seventeen were male. This study was done on two separate days, 50% were observed on the first day and the other 50 % were observed on the second day. The age range groups were 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. Fifteen of the drivers were driving a SUV (sport utility vehicle), seventeen of the drivers were driving a car, five were driving a mini vans and three were driving a truck.
Design
This experiment design is based on an observation for collecting data. I made sure that the participants were not involved and will not be interacted with. There are no ethical issues because the participants I observed are not physically involved with me as an observer as they did not know they were being observed.
Material
The material used in this experiment consisted of an intersection in a neighborhood with a two way stop within one block