An observational study was done to assess the effects of environmental influence
ID: 3376014 • Letter: A
Question
An observational study was done to assess the effects of environmental influences on drinking by college students in a university-sponsored pub. Eighty-two students over the age of 21 were observed. The observers used a checklist to record whether the participant was male or female and whether the participant was with one other person or was in a group of two or more other people. Each observation session was always from 3 P.M. to 1 A.M., and observations were made Monday through Saturday. The observations were made over a 3-month period. Two observers were always present during any observation session. Each participant was observed for up to 1 hour from the time he or she ordered the first beer. The data were summarized in terms of the numbers of beers drunk per hour. The results showed that men drank more and men drank faster than did women. Men drank faster when with other men, and women also drank faster with men present. Both men and women drank more in groups than when with one other person. These results do indicate that the environment within which drinking occurs plays an important role in the nature and extent of that drinking.
A. Identify the observational method being used in this study, and explain why you decided on the observational method you chose.
B. Identify the independent and dependent variables in this study, and describe the operational definition of each level of the independent variable.
C. How could the researchers control for reactivity in this study? What ethical concerns might arise from their approach?
D. Identify one specific aspect of the procedures in this study that would likely increase the reliability of the observations.
E. Identify one aspect of the procedures in this study that would likely limit the external validity of the findings of this study.
Explanation / Answer
A. The observational method being used in the study is a 'Naturalistic observational method' where research is done by studying the spontaneous behavior of participants in natural surroundings. The researcher simply records what they see in whatever way they can. This experiment needed a degree of freedom and spontaneity to make sense of the results. Carrying out this experiment in a controlled environment loses it's purpose as the results were relevant to real life scenarios that happen daily in natural surroundings.
B. The independent variables in this study are : The gender of the person (Male/Female) and the type of group that enters the bar (two people/group of more than two).
The dependent variable in this study is : The number of beers drunk per hour.
The dependent variable is the response to change in the independent variable. Essentially, how the drinking pattern changes depending on gender and number of the people that you're with, is the experiment's intention.
C. Reactivity occurs when the subject of the study, is affected either by the instruments of the study or the individuals conducting the study in a way that thus, changes whatever is being measured. To control reactivity, the researchers had to ensure that the participants had to behave as normally as possible and not change their behaviour because they know they were being observed. Ways in which the researchers could do this include being covert, basically make sure that the observers are out of the sight of the students so the students forget that they're being observed, or go the other way and be cordial with them such as ensure the researchers are students themselves and make the researches go introduce themselved and act like they're acquaintances and not be awkward instead. The ethical concerns might be regarding violation of privacy, hence the students need to know exactly what the terms and conditions of the experiment is and they should give their consent to participating too.
D. In my opinion, the more extra variables we get rid off, the clearer is the relation and the observations in the experiment are more valid. One aspect would be to ensure the same drink is being consumed by the students. Equating one litre of draught beer and one litre of dark beer would dampen the quality of the observations. So, then we can ideally compare the quantity of beer consumed if the type is standardized across the experiment and this would hence increase the reliabilty of the observations.
E. Since the observations are conducted for 82 students for a particular university, the findings that result out of this experiment will probably be lacking the ability to be generalized to wider society. Maybe the students in the university react differently when they drink outside or with a group that doesn't consist of university mates, or maybe the music or the bartender might be a variable that affects the study. Hence, the small sample size and the lack of universality of the study will likely limit the external validity of the findings of this study.
Cheers!
Upvote if this was helpful.