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Group Projects

1. Locate a short film and a short article (A1) on the same controversial topic of interest to social work.  Find another article about something else. (A2).  Put both in reserve at your library.  Construct a short questionnaire that measures attitudes about whatever the topic selected is.  Using randomization, split the class into four groups.  (Assignment of groups will be:  Group 1:  heads on both coins; Group 2: tails on both coins; Group 3: heads on the penny, tails on the nickel: Group 4:  tails on the penny, heads on the nickel.)  At the end of class, distribute written directions to each group with explicit instructions not to discuss their instructions or activities with people from other groups.  Group 1 should be instructed to watch the video only.  Group 2 should be instructed to only read article A1.  Group 3 should be instructed to watch the video and read article A1.  Group 4 should be instructed to read article A2.  On the next day of class, distribute the questionnaire and instruct each student to write only his or her group number on it for identification.  Have each group collect and shuffle their questionnaires.  Distribute each group’s set of questionnaires to another group to tally them up.  When each group has been tallied, compare the results on the blackboard.  Were there any differences between groups?  Ask students to discuss their experiences as subjects.  Ask them to honestly discuss whether contamination may have confounded the results.
    
2. Split the class into teams.  Select a topic that has been the subject of numerous experiments, such as obedience to authority, the effect of supervisory styles, or behavior in small groups.  Assign students to find as many studies as possible that use an experiment to investigate the topic.  Instruct students to summarize the experiment in terms of measurement of the independent and dependent variables (i.e., the experimental stimulus and the pre/post test) and to the experimental or quasi-experimental design.  Have each group bring their findings back to class to compare the experiments.  Have one group volunteer to explain an experiment that they found.  Ask another group to explain another that no one else has, etc.  As each group explains, keep track of the different experimental designs and measurements.  When all have been discussed, have students debate as to which experiment had the highest internal validity and which had the highest external validity.

3. Have students split into groups of 3 or 4. In each group, they are tasked with creating a child’s cartoon that best articulates one of the concepts in this chapter regarding internal and external validity. These cartoons should include graphics, characters and subjects with which children can identify, and a fun color scheme and story.                 

4.  Have students form into small groups of three or four.  Have them go to the library and search Social Work Abstracts for experimental design research.  Ask them to assess how many of these studies are found in journals exclusive to the field of social work.  Ask them to run a search of survey research (which they will be discussing later in the semester).  Have them compare the number of experimental designs (true and/or quasi-experiments) to the number of research articles published about survey results.  Have the students, if they find a discrepancy, discuss why this might exist.  Ask them to discuss this issue with regard to social work ethical considerations.

1. This is a fast-paced exercise that allows students to understand causality, as well as how variables are not intrinsically causes or effects.  You will need a timekeeper/scorekeeper for this activity (either a TA or a student who does not participate).  Begin with a variable (V1) of your choosing and write it on the board.  Ascribed variables are a good place to start (gender, race, etc.).  Ask the first team to name a variable that is CAUSED by that variable within one minute.  If they can name a variable, they score 10 points.  Write the new variable (V2) on the board and connect it with an arrow.  The second team has one minute to do one of two things:  1) challenge the relationship proposed as spurious, in which case they must explain the spuriousness to the satisfaction of you and your assistant.  If their explanation is not sound, they earn 0 points and lose their turn, but if it is sound they must propose a new variable (V3) CAUSED by V1 as the independent variable, in this case they earn 20 points; or 2) they propose a new variable (V3) caused by V2 becomes the independent variable, in which case they earn 10 points.  In either case, write V3 on the board with appropriate arrows (erasing V2 if it was demonstrated to be spurious).  The next team can either challenge or propose a variable CAUSED by V3.   Repeat as desired or until blackboard is full. 
    

Mini Projects

1.  Natural experiments
For this project, you should identify a law that is present in some states and not present in others (e.g., casino gambling, right-turn-on-red, different minimum driving ages, different criteria for driving under the influence, etc).   

1. Identify four states:  two that have the law and two that do not.
2. Identify the date that each of the two states that have the law passed the law.
3. Find a relevant statistic for each state from the most recent year (for example, traffic fatalities if you’re looking at minimum driving ages).  Libraries tend to have several collections of data that could be used for this. 
4. Locate the same statistics for each state, but for the year prior to the years that the new laws were passed.  (If the laws passed in different years, there will be three statistics for each state, if the laws passed in the same year, there will be only two statistics for each state.)
5. Based on these statistics, is there any evidence for causality between the law and the statistics?  Write an answer, paying special attention to the five criteria of causality.
6. What type of quasi-experimental design have you approximated in this exercise?  Write an answer, explaining your reasoning.

2.  Social Contagion? 
This experiment must be conducted with one or two other participants.  It is an effort to test the effect that one person’s interest in a product (or item) has on the actions of others.

1. Pick a store display (or on campus display) that faces a busy sidewalk or mall interior.  To prepare for the experiment, observe pedestrians going past the display and note how many glance at the display.  You will need to develop some rules for classifying a behavior as a “glance.”
2. The experimental treatment is to be one of the participants looking appreciatively at something in the display.  Develop a plan to observe the behaviors of other pedestrians unobtrusively, so you can observe the pedestrians but not interfere with their behavior in any way.   
3. Begin the experiment by counting the number of people who pass the window and the number of times they glance at the display during a five-minute period.  Be sure that you and the other participants involved in observing are unobtrusive or far enough away that you won’t be noticed by passersby.  Also be sure to begin the observational period when no one is standing and gazing at the display.  Record the counts in a small notebook without attracting attention to yourself.  Now have one participant stand in front of the display and gaze intently at it for five minutes.  Repeat the count.
4. Now repeat the cycle of observing with and without the observer present.  Continue until you have completed five cycles of the process.
5. Calculate the number of glances per passerby for each five minute observational period.  If counts are available from two or more observers, average them before performing the calculations.
6. Calculate an overall average “glances per passerby” for the periods when your display gazer was present and when he or she was not.
7. Was there a difference in the glances made by passersby based on whether someone was already observing?  Comment on the size of the difference and the possibility of influences other than the presence of your window gazer.

3.  Evaluating the Stanford Prison Experiment 
Locate the Stanford Prison Experiment website (http://www.prisonexp.org/). Watch the slide show.  Write an essay in which you answer each of the following.

1. In your own words, describe the experiment.   
2. What type of experimental, quasi-experimental, or nonexperimental design was used?  Explain. 
3. What were the findings of the experiment?  Do you find them to be valid?  Generalizable?  Explain.
4. Did the Stanford Prison Experiment violate any social work ethics in experimental research?  Explain.