Research Project 1 Variations in Life-Expectancy

Administer the following questionnaire, to at least 5 male and 5 female acquaintances (or alternatively, to any two or more groups of college students you would like to compare). Then add (or subtract) the total points indicated to each individual's basic life expectancy (71 for males, 78 for females; add 10 to these basic figures for each respondent over 50 years of age).

Once you have collected your data, prepare a table in which you tally the number of Individuals in each of your groups who indicated that a question applied to them. Calculate the average (mean) number of years the pattern of answering adds or subtracts for each category (e.g., family history), and calculate the overall average (mean) number of years the answer adds or subtracts to each groups life expectancy.

Finally, write a brief report that summarizes your findings by answering at least the following questions:

1.Is the pattern of answers for the groups similar or different?

2.Which categories of answers tend to add to or subtract from each groups life expectancy?

3. Does one group have a larger overall life expectancy than the other?

4. What conclusions can you draw about the basic life expectancies of each group?

5. If the answers to questions 1 - 4 indicate interesting group differences, why do you think these differences exist?

Basic Life Expectancy Questionnaire

1. Family history

Add five years if two or more of your grandparents lived to 80 or beyond.

Subtract four years if any parent, grandparent, sister, or brother died of heart attack or stroke before 50.

Subtract two years if anyone died from these diseases before 60.

Subtract three years for each case of diabetes, thyroid disorder, breast cancer, cancer of the digestive system, asthma, or chronic bronchitis among parents or grandparents.

2. Marital status

If you are married, add four years.

If you are over twenty-five and not married, subtract one year for every unwedded decade.

3. Economic status

Add two years if your family income is over $60,000 per year.

Subtract three years if you have been poor for the greater part of your life.

4. Physique

Subtract one year for every ten pounds you are overweight.

For each inch your girth measurement exceeds your chest measurement deduct two years. Add three years if you are over forty and not overweight.

5. Exercise

Add three years if you exercise regularly and moderately (jogging three time a week). Add five years if you exercise regularly and vigorously (long-distance running three times a week).

Subtract three years if your job is sedentary. Add three years if your job is active.

6. Alcohol

Add two years if you are a light drinker (one to three drinks a day). Subtract five years if you are a heavy drinker (more than four drinks per day). Subtract one year if you are a teetotaler.

7. Smoking

Subtract eight years if you smoke two or more packs of cigarettes а day.

Subtract two years if you smoke one to two packs per day.

Subtract two years if you smoke less than one pack per day.

Subtract two years if you regularly smoke a pipe or cigars.

8. Disposition

Add two years if you are a reasoned, practical person.

Subtract two years if you are aggressive, intense, and competitive.

Add two years if you are basically happy and content with life.

Subtract two years if you are often unhappy worried, or often feel guilty.

9. Education

Subtract two years if you have less than a high school education, Add one year if you attended four years of school beyond high school. Add three years if you attended five or more years beyond high school.

10. Environment

Add four years if you have lived most of your life in a rural environment. Subtract two years if you have lived most of your life in an urban environment.

11. Sleep

Subtract five years if you sleep more than nine hours a day.

12. Temperature

Add two years if your home's thermostat is set at no more than 68°F.

13. Health care

Add three years if you have regular medical checkups and regular dental care. Subtract two years if you are frequently ill.

Research Project 2 Knowledge of Older Adults

A major theme of Chapter 18 is that people in general have many inaccurate beliefs about old people. The purpose of this exercise is to find out if this assumption itself is accurate with respect to college students’ knowledge about older adults.

Administer the following "quiz" to at least 10 of your acquaintances. Score each individual’s answers using the key provided below, and note the total number of items each person answer correctly. Next, prepare a table in which you indicate how many people answered each question correctly and the average (mean) score for the group.

Finally, write a brief report of your findings in which you answer at least the following questions:

1. Which questions were most people able to answer?

2. Is there an interesting pattern concerning questions people could/could not answer?

3. Does Santrock’s claim that people hold many false stereotypes appear to be correct?

4. What conclusions do you draw from your findings?

5. How would you explain your findings?

Knowledge of Older Adults Quiz

1. In the United States, about one in eight people is 65 years of age or older. TF

2. The most common health problem among older persons is arthritis. TF

3. New York is the state with the highest percentage of older residents. TF

4. Older men are twice as likely to be married as older women. TF

5. About one-third of older African Americans lives below the poverty line. TF

6. Older men have a higher poverty rate than do older women. TF

7. The educational level of the older population has been steadily decreasing. TF

8. Half of all older women are widows. TF

9. Thirty percent of all older persons have diabetes. TF

10. Due to the small number of births during the Great Depression, the growth of the population will slow down during the 1990s. TF

11. By the year 2030, older people may represent over one-fifth of the U. S.

population. TF

12. About 75 percent of older adults have a significant hearing impairment. TF

13. A child born in 1984 could expect to live about 75 years. TF

14. There are about 150 older women for every 100 older men. TF

15. Most parents over the age of 65 see an adult child at least twice a month. TF

Chapter 19

Research Project 1 Free Recall among College Students and Older Adults

Chapter 19 reports on various aspects of memory function among older adults compared to younger people, but indicates little specific information about how well older adults can recall information they have just studied compared to younger people. You can find something out about this by carrying out this project.

Locate at least four elderly people and four of your college age peers to participate in your project. Make appointments to work individually with each, allowing at least a half an hour to do your "experiment." Before the appointment, get paper and pencils that your respondents can use in the course of remembering words that you will have them study for later recall. Also, prepare a sheet listing the words given below that you can give your respondents to study prior to being asked to remember them.

At the start of the interview, explain your project to your respondents. During this time note carefully how they receive your explanation. For example, are they relaxed? Comfortable? Do they make spontaneous remarks about their memory, or their anticipated performance? Be sure to nоte your observations as soon as you can; a good idea would be to have a prepared data sheet on which you could rate each person's reactions in terms of their comfort, anxiety, confidence, and comments.

Next, do the memory "test." Give the sheet listing the words to each person and let them study the words for exactly one minute. When the minute is past, retrieve the sheet and ask the person to recite numbers backwards from 99 by threes for 30 seconds (this is a standard control for remembering from short-term rather than long-term memory). Immediately after 30 seconds passed, give your respondent a sheet of paper and a pencil and ask them to write as many of the words they have just studied as they can.

Give respondents as much time as they want; note how much time they take. Observe them carefully, again noting their comfort levels, possibly jotting down their spontaneous remarks. When they say they are finished, retrieve the sheet you have given them, give them another, and ask them to try again. Give them as much time to remember as they want.

When people have finished the second memory trial, briefly interview your respondents about their experience. Were they comfortable? Did they enjoy the task? Did they feel confident? Do they feel they performed well? Throughout this interview be as supportive and interested as you can, and assure people that you appreciate their willingness to participate in your project. If you have time, you might try to answer any questions they have about human memory.

Summarize your data in a table that lists the number of words each person in each age group was ablе to recall, and how much time they spent trying to recall, for each trial. Compute averages (means) and list these in your table. Indicate how welt and fast they remembered on the first and second trials. Next, summarize your observations about the reactions of people in each group to the task. Note how many people in each group were comfortable, anxious, confident; note whether there were comments typically expressed by each group. Finally, study the order in which respondents remembered the words. Did they appear to have used any of the words’ characteristics to help themselves remember?

Write a brief paper in which you report your data in the table or tables you have prepared. Be sure to describe the people who participated, including their sex, ages, race/ethnicity, and current "life situation." Discuss your results in terms of information reported in your text. Try to determine whether such things as emotional reaction, confidence, time spent remembering, and use of word characteristics was related to number of words recalled, What do you conclude about the relative recall performance levels of college students versus elderly adults?

Words

street trail Abe chair bear rain

ape drape pear ham hail tail

Claire lamb pony sleet lane cone

phone brain grape Tony Sam lamp

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16