The paper below was written by Shagun R and Adam F, Seniors in the Class of 2000 at Sutherland High School in Sociology.

Shagun 

Adam 

Sociology 2

Mr. Pappas

6 December 1999

Model Research Project

1. Disabled people are often seen having difficulties in public places. Despite laws that have been passed to make public places more accessible for handicapped people, many places are still very difficult for a handicapped person to navigate. We decided to take advantage of this common situation to see just how various people would react. Our question addresses many factors as to what could possibly influence a person's decision in the situation created. Questions such as the following will be researched: How will people of various ages and gender react to people of varying degrees of handicap? Will there be a trend to how helpful women or men will be? Will the ages of the subjects show a trend as to which of the handicap actors they are more likely to assist?

2. The approach of this research project will be done through experiment. A controlled

situation will be created and people in the mall are the subjects being experimented with. Data will be recorded according to the subjects’ decision regarding their age and gender. Two different handicap persons will be used in the experiment. Each will need assistance going up a ramp in a wheelchair. All the actor needs is a "boost" from a passerby. It should not be overly obvious that the handicap person is in need of help so subjects should not feel obligated to offer help. Both of the actors will be of age 50 and male. Both will be in wheelchairs. Disabled person A will be dressed just as any person would be dressed, but they will be in the wheelchair. This situation will mirror paralysis of the lower limbs. Disabled person B will also be in a wheelchair, but this one will be motorized. This person should mirror a paraplegic. The disabled person should make an attempt to go up the ramp every time a subject walks by. Subjects will be of all ages, race, and gender. During each experiment the actor and surrounding activity will be videotaped by a hidden video camera. The camera will be used to record the actions of subjects as they pass through the experiment. The video will be used to identify the age and gender of each test subject.

3. This experiment will require a variety of actors that will pose as the

handicap people in wheelchairs. A controlled environment must be found in a public place so that a relatively constant situation is created for all subjects. While tallying subjects’ reactions, it must be clear who assists and who chooses to ignore the situation. A hidden camera must be located in such a way that gender and age of the subjects can be determined. In terms of location, it must be one that offers a valid problem for a person in a wheelchair. The situation must also be in a place where all subjects are aware that the handicap person is in need of assistance.

4. The ethical issue is the experiment itself. It is set up to analyze people’s ethics when

presented with the decision we are recording. Is it really appropriate to help someone with one type of disability and not help another person with a different disability in the same way? This experiment, we hope, will answer our questions by viewing real life decisions of people.

5. The experiment will take place at the same time for each test so variation in mall

population is minimized. A hidden camera will record footage of how many people assist the handicap actor versus how many do not. Data will be recorded over one hour for each of the six actors. The collection will simply be a data chart that tallies how many people assist each individual tester and their age and gender. After the experiment has been carried through, the data will be analyzed using bar graphs with the number of subjects who gave assistance on the Y axis, and the gender and age of the subjects groups on the X axis.

Data Table of Subject vs. Handicap Actor