So what!?  Wondering what this all means?

How will people react to people of varying degrees of handicap?-  Here we have addressed our conclusions about the answers for each of the questions on the Survey.

Have you ever helped a handicap person before?   Yes 45%  No 3%  Yes, More than once 49%

   This question was put in to find out more about the surveyee.  It was necessary, we believe, for most of the people surveyed to have come in contact with a handicapped individual at least once.  The results showed that infact, 97% of the people surveyed had helped a disabled person before.

Sex: Male 56%  Female 44%

    This question was inserted in order for us to determine whether we did or did not have an even distribution of Males vs. Females.   We did infact have an even enough percentage of males verses females with a 12% difference between the two.  We wanted no more than than a 15% difference between the two.

You are in an airport and your flight departs in 15 minutes. As you get through the ticket counter, you notice a middle aged woman on crutches. She has dropped her baggage and is physically unable to get them to the baggage check. What do you do?

Tell yourself to ignore the situation and get to your flight that leaves in 10 minutes.  13%

Find another person to assist while you catch your flight.  17%

Offer assistance to the person but explain that you have to catch a flight.  69%

    This question was asked to find how the surveyee would react to a situation in which time would pressure their decision, as it would in real life. The woman described had a low level disability, and the results of the question explain clearly that most people, 69% in our case, would take the time to help her. The question falls short in the respect that the one option in which the surveyee decided to help also included "explain that you have to catch a flight." This statement makes it easier for a person to commit to helping. A more serious consequence of helping, such as missing the flight, would have probably returned more conclusive results.

You are waiting in line at a movie theater. The film you want to see starts in 5 minutes. As you wait in line, the person behind you catches their prosthetic arm on the line rope. The prosthesis detaches and the handicapped person is unable to reattach it.  What do you do?

Pretend you didn't notice and get into the movie before it starts.  10% 

Buy the ticket and tell the ticket man at the door that the women in line needs assistance.  32%

You want to help the woman but also want to see the movie so you get another person in line to help.  16% 

You turn around and help the woman reattach the prosthesis and catch the next showing of the movie.  42%

This question was asked to find how the surveyee would react to a situation in which they would have to choose between to things they want, as it would in real life.  The question also introduces the idea of being uncomfortable helping someone.  The person described had a mid-high level disability, and the results of the question explain clearly that most people, 90% in our case, felt that some help should be given.  What is shown though is that only 42% of people felt comfortable helping the person in this way by themselves.  This question was well worded as to address how comfortable people are about assisting disabled people. 

Are you handicapped?  Yes 0%  No 100%

We threw this question in there because it felt like something we should ask.  It did not really matter whether a person answered yes or no to this question.  (Thrown in to make the survey more rounded, read next question.)

Are any of your friends/relatives handicapped?  Yes 40%  No 60%

This question was inserted in order to understand what types of relationships the surveyees have with the handicapped.  40% of the surveyees have a friend or relative who is handicapped.  By adding this question we made the survey appear more well rounded.  It was important that surveyees not fully understand what data we were trying to get.  If they did know, they might not answer accurately, in order to appear as though they were a better persion.

Answer the following question on this scenario: It is the holiday season and you have an hour to do some shopping at the local mall.

A) You are on your way to your next store and you pass a young man in a wheelchair who can not get up a ramp.  What do you do?

Ignore them  13%

Get someone else to help them you aren't comfortable doing so.  6%

Go ahead and help them it'll only take one minute.  81%

The conclusion that can be drawn from this question is mostly in the first and third responses. The first is quite important because a respectable percentage of the subjects chose to ignore the wheelchaired young man. While 69% chose to help him, the amount of people who didn't must not be ignored. It must also be noted that the wording of the third response may have led to higher numbers of people willing to help. It says thatt helping will only take a minute, which for most people is a giveaway to helping.

B) On your way to the next store in the mall, you pass an elderly man in a wheelchair. It appears as though he needs help getting up a ramp. The man appears to be severely impaired, with a motorized wheelchair and a ventilator. What do you do?

Ignore them  12%

Get someone else to help them you aren't comfortable doing so.  12%

Go ahead and help them it'll only take one minute.  77%

This question addresses the same thing as the one above, except in this case we used a different degree of handicap.  This man was on a ventilator and had a motorized wheelchair.  Similar to that of a parapelegic.  What we wanted to see was a difference in the amount that would actually help, and this was what we found.  What we saw was that the percentage of people uncomfortable in this situation doubled from 6% to 12% from the one above in situation A.  This was what we expected, though in even greater amounts.

Thats it!  This is what we believe to be an excellent analysis of the responses given through our survey.  All of the data above was taken from January 6, 2000 to January 20, 2000.  Current values on the data may differ because more people have taken the survey since then.  Thankyou.