Social Psychology
Instructor:  Susan Boland
Case Study 1.3 

·        This case study assignment requires that you apply information about research methods from Chapter 2 of the textbook and from lecture.  Read the case study carefully and answer the six questions in detail.  Follow the instructions for case study assignments distributed in class.  A copy of the instructions is also on my web-page http://www.lhup.edu/sboland/ 

·        Avoid quoting directing from the textbook -- write in your own words.  Information taken from the text, even if rewritten in your own words, must be credited to or cited to the textbook authors or to lecture.  See the full case study instructions for more details about citing the text and lecture as a source.  

·        If you have any questions regarding this assignment please ask. 

Case Study 1.3  (30 points): People Who Need People 

     Janet was required to conduct a study as a final project in her research methods course.  She was interested in the influence of an audience on performance.  She had heard some student athletes say that they played better in front of cheering fans.  She had also spoken to other students, however, who said they froze whenever they had to give a speech in front of a class.  Janet wanted to design a study that would investigate how an audience would affect performance.  She had two ideas for such a study. 

     Her first idea was to attend all the home games of her university's basketball team.  She would record the number of spectators at the game and the number of points scored by the home team.  Janet wanted to determine whether a link existed between the two variables.

     Her second idea was to recruit students from her Introduction to Health class to shoot baskets.  Each student would be given ten attempts to shoot baskets from the foul line.  Half the students would shoot baskets in front of an observer, whereas the other half would be alone in the gym. All other factors (e.g., distance from the basket, number of tries) would be kept the same between the two groups.  From the balcony Janet could unobtrusively record the number of baskets each student scored.

 Questions

 1)      One of Janet's ideas uses a correlational design and one uses an experimental design. First briefly
       describe each type of research design.  Next identify each study idea as correlational or
       experimental.  Finally, explain the basis for your identification.  In other words, explain what makes 
       one of her study ideas a correlational design and the other an experiment. 

2)      a)   Suppose Janet carries out her first study and records the number of spectators and number of
       points scored at each home game.  What relationship would you expect Janet to find? between
       the variables?  Do you think the relationship would be positive or negative? Explain your answer.

 b)   If Janet discovered a strong relationship between the number of spectators and the number
       of points scored, can she conclude that the number of spectators causes changes in the team's
       offensive play?  Explain your answer. 

c)  Give at least one alternative explanation for a relationship between the number of spectators and
     the number of points scored.(Hint:  Janet is suggesting that variable A (number of spectators) 
     cause variable B (number of points scored). Is it possible instead that B cause A, or that a third
     variable C causes both A and B?)  Explain your answer.
 

           the experimental study?  How does Janet plan to manipulate the independent variable?

 

     b)  In you own words, define dependent variable.   What is the dependent variable in the experiment? 
          How does Janet plan to measure the dependent variable?

     c)  Suggest either a different way to manipulate the independent variable OR a different way to measure
          the dependent variable. 

 4)  Her instructor tells Janet that she must randomly assign students to the conditions in her
      experimental study.  

    a) What is random assignment? (Take care not to confuse random sampling with random assignment).

    b) Describe a specific procedure Janet could use to randomly assign the participants in the experiment. 

5)  a)  What is internal validity?

     b) How does random assignment contribute to good internal validity?  To answer this question you
          need to discuss why random assignment is used and explain how it helps control for differences
          between groups.

     c)  Besides random assignment, what else did Janet plan to do that would improve internal validity? 

6)    Compare Janet's two studies. 

       a) Describe one advantage (strength) and one disadvantage (weakness) of the design she uses in her
           first study (observing the home team). 

       b) Also describe one advantage and one disadvantage of the design she uses in her second study
           (basket shooting in the gym).

       c)  If you had to choose one of these studies as being better, which would you choose and why?