Go to Sociosite at www.sociosite.net/index.php. Choose “Subject Areas.” Choose a sociological subject area you are interested in. How would you conduct a study on your chosen subject using experimental methods? Choose at least five of the key terms listed at the end of this chapter that are relevant to and incorporated in the research experiment you have located on the web. Explain how each of the five key terms you have chosen plays a role in the research example you have found on the web.
Try out the process of randomization. Go to the website www.randomizer.org and click on “Randomize Now” at the bottom of the page. Type numbers into the randomizer for an experiment with 2 groups and 20 individuals per group. Repeat the process for an experiment with 4 groups and 10 individuals per group. Plot the numbers corresponding to each individual in each group. Does the distribution of numbers within each group truly seem to be random?
Participate in a social psychology experiment on the web. Go to www.socialpsychology.org/expts.htm. Pick an experiment in which to participate and follow the instructions. After you finish, write up a description of the experiment and evaluate it using the criteria discussed in the chapter.
