Fall 2008 Completed Research Projects

Here's another batch of student research projects. This particular class did a very good job planning and executing their research over a two-semester time span.

• Does noise affect the concentration and response time of college students? (A classic lab experiment in which participants had to complete a reading test while either listening to the sound of a jackhammer at 75db. No significant difference found.)
• Baptist feelings toward science at a small Southern college over a 47-year span (A replication of a survey conducted in the early 1960s. Interestingly, 2008 respondents were significantly less likely to believe that: "It is possible to harmonize modern scientific findings with religious concepts?")
• Reasons Facebook users accept friend requests from strangers (A low response rate led to insignificant results, nonetheless this remains an important topic.)
• What makes a woman stay with her abuser? (Women from a local shelter and college students who responded to an e-mail request were surveyed. A small N led to nonsignificant results.)
• Female perceptions of male intelligence based on first names (A partial replication of a 1993 study discovered that men with younger generation names [e.g., Matthew, William, and Ethan] were perceived as more intelligent than men with older generation names [e.g., Harry, Don, and Fred].)
• Are cigarettes purchased more by males or females: Age and race effects (A field experiment at a local convenience store found that older, White males purchased the most cigarettes, younger, White males the most Skoal, and younger, Black males the most cigars.)
• Who are more depressed: Black or White men? (A survey study using the Beck Depression Inventory found no differences with two groups of 25 male colleges students.)
• A small campus study on classroom seating due to student gender (An observational study of where students sit in class by instructor gender, student gender, instructor race, and student race found that females are more likely to sit near the front of the class and more so when the instructor, too, is female.)
• Are children in two-parent households more academically successful? (Conducted at a local school system, the research found no difference in student GPAs by household type.)
  

Please contact me if you are interested in further information about any of these research projects.