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UW-Madison SOC 357 - Field Experiment Exercise

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Exper 1Sociology 357/8 FIELD EXPERIMENT EXERCISE DUE DATES TO CHECK IN CLASSDat a Co llect ed by:Be able t o give ve rbal summary o f result s by:Final Written Report Due: Reading: Singleton, Chapters 7 and 8; Stern Chapter 3. You must understand what a manipulatedindependent variable is, what randomization is and how it works (and how it differs from randomsampling), and what it means to gain experimental control from holding constant. You continueto need to know what it means to operationalize a variable. You may wish to review SingletonChapter 17 on writing a research report. For this exercise you design and carry out a small field experiment using a randomizedposttest-only between-subjects (cont rol group) design. Y ou devise a manipulable independentvariable and a measurable dependent variable. You may use any hypothesis and procedures thatyou are comfortable with. Some people prefer to do strange o r unusu al things and observe thereaction, while others prefer to do quieter things. Both can easily be accomodated, as long as youmake sure your partners share your attitude. Class members may wish to suggest generaltheoretical hypotheses that different teams ca n operationalize in different ways, thus permitt ingthe class as a whole to generate tests of the external validity of results.Abou t Teams. You are strongly encouraged but not required to do this exercise withanother class member. Teams have two options: (1) write a joint report, or (2) each person writethe who le report individually. Option 1 is appro priate when team members are truly working andlearning together. It is unfair and unethical for one student to do most o f the studying and writingwhile another "free rides" under the guise of option 1. Those doing the work have the right torefuse to "give" partners papers they did not help write. If you choose option 2, you worktogether until the data are collected and, if you wish, put into a statistical table, but you must notcollaborate in writing your separate reports. If you find yourself in an ambiguous position aboutthese options because of unfo rseen problems, speak t o me and I will help you to determine thefairest thing to do.Planning Your ExperimentExperiments are planned in d etail in advance. Y ou should no t do your " official"experiment until your planning is complete. In planning your experiment, you need to figure outeach of the following: (1) A "setup," t he basic thing that will be happening in your experiment(e.g. a survey, a pet ition, a request for help). (2) A manipulable independent variable, with acareful operat ionalization of the differences among the categories or t reatments. T here sho uld beonly one variable with two or three categories. (3) An operationalized dependent variable whichcan be objectively and consistently measured for all subjects, regardless of the treatment theyreceive. (4) A plan for randomly assignment subjects to treatments that is properly rando m andthat is practical in the situation you have devised. (5) A plan for holding constant all aspects ofthe situation and your behavior except the independent variable or things which can berandomized. (6) A sampling plan. (You do not need a random sample, although you may use oneif it is possible with your setup.)Exper 2It is oft en very useful t o run small scale pre tests of part s of yo ur idea, to see if it willwork. If you are doing something new or unusual, I suggest you tr y out yo ur set up, independentvariable, or dependent variable before wasting too much time on something that might not work. Your experiment sho uld have only one independent variable and one dependent variable. You may do additional independent or dependent variables only if you are sure you know whatyou are doing. Unfortunately, people who do not understand experiments often throw in extravariables by mistake, so I must have the rule that extra variables must be handled correctly to getcredit. If you think you can handle this and there is something that interests you, speak t o me andI will explain ho w to d o a fact or ial de sign correct ly.Doing the Exper iment Follow your plan and obtain a minimum of 10 cases (i.e. units of analysis: subjects or trials orgroups) for each category of the independent variable. If the independent variable has 2categories, this will be 20 cases. Fifteen or even 20 cases per category of t he independent va riable(i.e. 30 or 40 to tal cases) is bet ter. This is a ver y easy g oal to obt ain in t he vast ma jority o f fieldexperiments. It is common for people to have so much fun they do more. Do not go below 10cases per category unles s you have writ ten per mission fro m me. Usually when it seemsunreasonable to do so many cases it is because your idea is impractical and you need advice. Record the data according to your plan, and make a note of any unexpected things thathappen. Make sure you turn in your data with your report. WRITTEN REPORTPLEASE FOLLOW THIS FORMAT EXACTLY. This is based on Chapter 17 of the Singletonbook, but includes some specifics for this class.About Truthfulness. Science depends on researchers telling the truth about what really happenedin their research, not what they wish had happened. At the same time, students worry that theywill be graded down if they tell the truth. So, for each question, I insist that you tell the truthabout what really happened in the research, but then follow it with an opportunity to explain whatyou now think you should have done. If there was a mistake and your self-criticism gives acorrect statement about what you should have done, you will receive full credit as if you had donethings right in the first place. I. Title page. Title of report, author(s), date. Put partner's name in parentheses at the bottom ofthe pag e if you wo rked with someone bu t wro te rep orts sep ara te ly.II. Abstract. Write one paragraph which summarizes your hypothesis, experimental researchmethods, hypot heses, and findings. You may include t his on the title page if you wish.III. Body of paper.A. Introduction. Write a paragraph stating your bivariate hypothesis and why it is worthresearching. Somet imes teams agr ee o n the var iables but disagre e on what t hey pr edict willhappen. This is OK for the purposes of this assignment; just say who makes what prediction. (Note: Citations to readings are not needed, but go here if something you read went into


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UW-Madison SOC 357 - Field Experiment Exercise

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Sampling

Sampling

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Class 7

Class 7

6 pages

Review

Review

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