Howmuchisa

complimentreallyworth?

ThisexperimentstudiesLASAseniorswillingnesstodoafavorbasedonwhetherthey
hadreceivedacomplimentornot.Todothis,20randomlyselectedLASAseniorswere
givenacomplimentandanother20werenotgivenacompliment.Thenbothgroups
wereaskedtofilloutasurvey.Basedontheirresponses,achisquaredtestof
homogeneitywasruntodetermineiftheproportionofresponseswerethesamefor
bothcategories.

InquiryPitch
AndreasToprac
StatisticsPeriod3
20152016
5/22/16

TableOfContents
ProjectReport

WorksCited

AppendixA(ProjectData)

AppendixB(RCode)

11

AppendixC(Signatures)

12

AppendixD(ProofofRandomness)

13

AppendixE(Graphs)

14

AppendixF(WebsiteLink)

15

AppendixG(RevisedInquiryPitch)

16

AppendixH(OriginalInquiryPitch)

19

AppendixI(ProjectRoughDraft)

22

AppendixJ(PeerReview)

26

HowMuchisaComplimentReallyWorth?
Astudyreportedby
Forbes
magazineconcludedthatreceivingacomplimenthas
thesamepositiveimpactasreceivingmoney.Totestthis,researcherstook48adults
andhadthemtypeoutaspecificpatternonakeyboardasfastaspossible.Theirtimes
wererecorded.Theythensplittheadultsintothreegroups.Onegroupreceiveda
compliment,onegroupwatchedanotherpersonreceiveacompliment,andthethird
groupreceivednocomplimentandevaluatedthemselvesonagraph.Theadultswere
thenbroughtinthenextdayandaskedtotypeoutthesamepatternonthekeyboardas
fastaspossiblefrommemory,andtheirtimeswererecordedonceagain.The
researchersfoundthatthegroupthatreceivedacomplimenthadsignificantlyfaster
timesthantheothertwogroups.Afterdoingmoreresearch,theyfoundthatthesame
partofthebrainthatwasstimulatedbythecomplimentwasalsostimulatedbyreceiving
acashreward(DiSalvo).Thesefindingsreinforcetheideaaboutgoodmodern
managementtechniquesthatpraisecostsnothing,butitproducesthesamesignificant
benefitsasmoneywould(WhyComplimentsImprovePerformance).
Becausetheseresearcherswereabletofindsignificantevidencethata
complimentcansignificantlyimproveperformanceonasimpletasksuchastyping,
therecouldalsobearelationshipbetweenreceivingacomplimentandotherthingslike
favors.Thequestionthatwillbetestedisifthereisacorrelationbetweenbeinggivena
complimentandwillingnesstodoafavor.Forthistest,thenullhypothesiswillbethat
theproportionofresponsesarethesamewhetherornotthesubjectwasgivena
compliment.Thealternativehypothesiswillbethattheproportionofresponsesarenot

thesamewhetherornotthesubjectwasgivenacompliment.Thepopulationthatthe
sampleisbeingdrawnfromisallLASAseniors.Basedontheresults,therecouldbe
significantevidencetosuggestthatgivingaLASAsenioracomplimentcaninfluence
themtodoafavorforyou.AssumingthataLASAseniorcanaccuratelyrepresentthe
averageperson,thiscoulddefinitelybeusedbytheaveragepersontotakeadvantage
ofthosearoundthemandgetfreefavorsoutofpeoplethattheycompliment.
Totestmyhypothesis,thepopulationbeingusedisallLASAHighSchool
seniors.ThesamplewasmadewasbyobtainingalistofalltheLASAseniorsthatwas
thennumberedfrom1252.Usinganonlinenumbergenerator,40numberswere
randomlygeneratedthatcorrelatedto40differentstudents.Thefirst20thatwere
generatedreceivedacomplimentandthesecond20thatweregenerateddidnot.This
createsasimplerandomsamplewhichwilleliminateasmuchbiasaspossible.Oneof
themajorbiasesthatcouldbepresentinthissampleisthatmanyoftherandomly
selectedstudentsknowme,sotheycouldbebiasedonhowtheyrespondtomeasking
forafavorbasedonhowwelltheyknowme.
Forthisexperimentthecomplimentwasaboutsomethingthatthestudentwas
wearing(whetheritbetheirshoes,shirt,etc.).Forexample,Heythatshirtlooksgood
onyou.Thefavoraskedwas,Wouldyoubewillingtofilloutthissurveyforme?The
surveywasbeapagefullofrandomquestionsabouttheirsex,age,haircolor,etc.The
questionsonthesurveydonotreallymatter,becausethestudentsresponsetothe
favoristheactualdata.Thestudentswerenotactuallyrequiredtofilloutthesurvey,
becausetheresponsetothefavoristheonlynecessarymeasurementforthe

experiment.Tocollectthedata,eachstudentwasfoundindividuallyandaskedtofill
outthesurvey.Theirresponsewererecordedandasignaturewasacquiredas
verificationofparticipationintheexperiment.
Beforerunningthechisquaredtestofhomogeneity,first,theassumptionsforthe
testneedtobechecked.Therandomassumptionismetbecausethesampleisa
simplerandomsample,whichwasdescribedearlier.Theindependentassumptionthat
eachsubjectmustonlybeobservedoncewasmetbecausetestsubjectscouldnot
providemultipleresponsestotherequestforafavor.Furthermore,studentscouldnot
becomplimentedandnotcomplimentedatthesametime.Thefirstexpectedcount
assumptionthateveryexpectedcountmustbegreaterthanonewasmetbecauseall
theexpectedvaluesweregreaterthanone,withthesmallestexpectedcountbeing3.5.
Butthesecondexpectedcountsassumptionthatnomorethan20%oftheexpected
countscellcanbelessthan5wasnotmet,becausetwooutofthefourexpectedcount
cellswere3.5.Because50%oftheexpectedcountswerelessthanfive,thismeans
thatthedatacouldbesubjecttoquestion.
AchisquaredtestofhomogeneitywasthenruninRstudiotoanalyzethedata.
Runningachisquaredtestofhomogeneityproducedachisquaredvalueof1.5584,a
chisquaredstatisticof3.84,1degreeoffreedom,andapvalueof0.2119.Thepvalue
saysthatthereisa0.2119probabilityofgettingtheseresults,ormoreextreme,given
thatthenullhypothesisistrue.ForthistestIusedanalphavalueof0.05,whichmeans
thatthereisa0.05probabilityofrejectingthenullhypothesiswhenthenullhypothesis
istrue.IusedthisalphavaluebecauseitmakestheprobabilityofaType1errorvery

small.Becausethepvalueof0.2119isgreaterthanthealphavalueof0.05andthe
chisquaredvalueof1.5584islessthanthechisquaredstatisticof3.84,wefailtoreject
thenullhypothesisthattheproportionofresponsesarethesamewhetherornotthe
studentreceivedacompliment.Therefore,wedonothavesignificantevidenceto
supporttheclaimthattheproportionofresponsesarenotthesamewhetherornotthe
studentreceivedacompliment.
TheresultsindicatethatforthepopulationofLASAseniors,receivinga
complimentdidnothaveasignificantinfluenceontheirwillingnesstodoafavor.Ofthe
40students,fivewhodidnotreceiveacomplimentdidnotwanttofilloutthesurveyand
onlytwowhodidreceiveacomplimentdidnotwanttofillitout.Thismeansthatfewer
studentswhoreceivedacomplimentdidnotwanttofilloutthesurvey,butitwasnota
significantdifference.IfitisassumedthataLASAseniorisrepresentativeofthe
averageperson,itwouldmeanthatobtainingfreefavorsfrompeoplebygivingthem
complimentswouldnotactuallywork.
Howeverthereareseveralproblemswiththedatathatcouldleadtoa
questionableconclusion.Firstofall,oneoftheexpectedcountsassumptionswasnot
metwhichcouldmeanthatachisquaredtestofhomogeneitymaynotbeappropriate.
Also,mostofthestudentswhodidnotwanttofilloutthesurveyknowme,possibly
becausetheyweremorecomfortabletellingmethattheydidnotwanttofillitoutthan
thosewhodidknowme.Ontheotherhand,thosewhodidnotknowmethatwellmay
havejustactedpoliteandfeltawkwardrefusingtodoafavorforme.Thisisdefinitelya
majorbiasthatcouldleadtoquestionableresults.Inordertoperformthisexperimentin

alessbiasedway,Iwoulduseasamplefromalargegroupofrandomstrangersina
placesuchasthemall.Randompeoplewalkingaroundthemallcouldbe
complimentedandthenaskedtofilloutthesurvey.Mostlikelythesetestsubjects
wouldnotknowme,sotheywouldnotbebiasedinanswering.Also,alargersample
wouldhelpmeettheexpectedcountsassumption.Howevertheexperimentwouldno
longerbeasimplerandomsample,soconveniencebiaswouldbepresent.Thisis
becauseifthesamplewastakeninasinglelocationlikethemall,itwouldonlyuse
subjectsthatwereconvenienttobepartoftheexperiment.Butthissamplewould
probablybemorerepresentativeoftheaverageperson.

WorksCited
DiSalvo,David."Study:ReceivingaComplimentHasSamePositiveEffectasReceiving
Cash."
Forbes
.ForbesMagazine,9Nov.2012.Web.16May2016.
"WhyComplimentsImprovePerformance."
TheBritishPsychologicalSociety
.BPS.org,
13Nov.2012.Web.16May2016.

A.ProjectData

Compliment

NoCompliment

Total

Yes

18

15

33

No

20

20

40

Total

Name

Compliment

Answer

Amstutz

Yes

Yes

Asdar

No

Yes

Asghar

Yes

Yes

Beckett

Yes

Yes

Bhakta

Yes

Yes

Bixby

No

Yes

Brodkin

No

Yes

Dennis

Yes

Yes

Devany

Yes

Yes

DuBose

No

No

Figueroa

No

Yes

Flores

Yes

Yes

GardunoSalazar

No

Yes

Guzman

Yes

Yes

HumphreysLucas

No

No

Johnson

No

Yes

Keel

Yes

Yes

Kemp

Yes

Yes

Larsen

No

Yes

Li

Yes

No

Liu

Yes

Yes

Martinez

No

Yes

McHaney

No

No

Moreno

Yes

Yes

Newman

Yes

Yes

Odell

No

Yes

Pace

No

Yes

PfundPulliam

No

No

Ploeger

Yes

Yes

Ramirez

Yes

Yes

Randall

Yes

No

Read

Yes

Yes

ReesEissler

Yes

Yes

Sajbel

Yes

Yes

Seiler

No

Yes

Sheblak

No

Yes

Stankiewicz

No

Yes


10

Tanaka

No

Yes

TorresSkillicorn

No

Yes

Zachgo

No

No


11

B.RCode
>tab<table(raw$Type,raw$Answer)
>tab

NoYes
Compliment218
NoCompliment515
>chisq.test(tab,correct=FALSE)$expected

NoYes
Compliment3.516.5
NoCompliment3.516.5
Warningmessage:
Inchisq.test(tab,correct=FALSE):
Chisquaredapproximationmaybeincorrect
>chisq.test(tab,correct=FALSE)

Pearson'sChisquaredtest

data:tab
Xsquared=1.5584,df=1,pvalue=0.2119

Warningmessage:
Inchisq.test(tab,correct=FALSE):
Chisquaredapproximationmaybeincorrect
>barplot(tab,main="Willyoudoafavorforme?",xlab="Response",legend=T)
>expect<chisq.test(tab,correct=FALSE)$expected
Warningmessage:
Inchisq.test(tab,correct=FALSE):
Chisquaredapproximationmaybeincorrect
>barplot(expect,main="Expectedresponsestoafavor",xlab="Expected
Responses",legend=T)


12

C.Signatures


13

D.ProofofRandomness


14

E.Graphs


15

F.WebsiteLink
http://statsfinal.weebly.com/


16

G.RevisedInquiryPitch
Astudyreportedby
Forbes
magazineconcludedthatreceivingacomplimenthas
thesamepositiveimpactasreceivingmoney.Totestthis,researcherstook48adults
andhadthemtypeoutaspecificpatternonakeyboardasfastaspossible.Theirtimes
werethenrecorded.Theythensplittheadultsintothreegroups.Onegroupreceiveda
compliment,onegroupwatchedanotherpersonreceiveacompliment,andthethird
groupreceivednocomplimentandevaluatedthemselvesonagraph.Theadultswere
thenbroughtinthenextdayandaskedtotypeoutthesamepatternonthekeyboardas
fastaspossible,andtheirtimeswererecordedonceagain.Theresearchersfoundthat
thegroupthatreceivedacomplimenthadsignificantlyfastertimesthantheothertwo
groups.Afterdoingmoreresearch,theyfoundthatthesamepartofthebrainthatwas
stimulatedbythecomplimentisalsostimulatedbyreceivingacashreward(DiSalvo).
Becausetheseresearcherswereabletofindsignificantevidencethatacomplimentcan
improveperformanceonasimpletask,Iwonderedifthereisasimilarresultwhen
askedtodoafavor.ThequestionIwillbetestingisifthereisacorrelationbetween
givingacomplimentandwillingnesstodoafavor.
TotestthisquestionIwillbedrawingfromthepopulationofLASAHighSchool
seniors.IamusingonlyseniorsbecauseIknowhowtotrackdownmostpeopleinthe
seniorclassanditwouldntbeweirdformetocasuallygivethemacompliment.Todo
this,Iwillassigneverysenioranumber.Iwillthenrandomlypick40numbersthatwill
correlatetothestudentswhowillbepartofmysample.Theonlybiasthatcouldbe
presentinthissampleisthatmanyofthestudentsthatarerandomlychosenprobably
knowme,sotheycouldbebiasedonhowtheyrespondtomeaskingforafavor.After


17

creatingmysample,Iwillgive20ofthestudentsacomplimentandtheother20no
complimentbeforeaskingforafavor.Forthisexperimentmycomplimentwillsimplybe
acomplimenttosomethingthattheyarewearing(whetheritbetheirshoes,shirt,etc.).
MyfavorwillbeWouldyoubewillingtofilloutthissurveyforme.Thesurveywill
simplybeapagefullofquestionsaboutthemselveslikesex,age,haircolor,etc.To
collectthisdataIwillfindeachstudentindividually,complimentthemornot,andthen
askthemtofilloutthesurvey.Iwillthenrecordtheirresponseandgettheirsignature
toshowthattheywerepartoftheexperiment.
Mydatawillbesplitintotwogroups,thosewhoreceivedacomplimentandthose
whodidnot.Theirresponsetotherequestforafavorwillberecordedaseitheryesor
no.BecauseIamevaluatingtwocategoricalvariablesthatweretakenfromtwo
differentgroups,Iwillbeusingachisquaredtestofhomogeneity.Forthistest,mynull
hypothesiswillbethattheproportionofresponsesarethesamewhetherornotIgave
themacompliment.Myalternativehypothesiswillbethattheproportionofresponses
arenotthesameacrossallcategories.BeforeIcanrunthistestIneedtomakesure
thatmyassumptionsaremet.BasedonmydatacollectionIalreadyknowthatmydata
willberandom.Also,Iknowthatasinglesubjectcantbeinboththeyesandno
categoryforrespondingtoafavor,andalsocantbothreceiveandnotreceivea
compliment.AfterIcollectmydataIwillbeabletotestmylasttwoassumptionsabout
expectedcounts.TofindmyconclusionforthisquestionIwillputmydataintoa
calculatorandrunachisquaredtestofindependencesothatIcanfindthepvalueand
compareittomyalphaof0.05.


18

MyreasonforthisquestionisthatIwanttoseeifasimplecomplimentcan
changethewayapersonrespondstoyou.Byaddingthefavorofaskingthemtofillout
asurvey,IcanseeifpeoplearemorewillingtodoafavorthatIwouldnotnormallyask
ofthemafterIgivethemacompliment.Mymainissuewiththisexperimentwill
probablybetrackingdownallthepeoplewhoIrandomlychooseformysample.AlsoI
willhavetomakethecomplimentlooknaturalandnotforcedinanywaysothattheydo
notthinkitispartofanexperiment.ButIthinkIwillprobablybeabletoaccomplish
thesethings.


19

H.OriginalInquiryPitch
Astudyreportedby
Forbes
magazineconcludedthatreceivingacomplimenthas
thesamepositiveimpactasreceivingmoney.Totestthis,researcherstook48adults
andhadthemtypeoutaspecificpatternonakeyboardasfastaspossible.Theythen
splittheadultsintothreegroups.Onegroupreceivedacompliment,onegroup
watchedanotherpersonreceiveacompliment,andthethirdgroupreceivedno
complimentandevaluatedthemselvesonagraph.Theadultswerethenbroughtinthe
nextdayandaskedtotypeoutthesamepatternonthekeyboardasfastaspossible.
Theresearchersfoundthatthegroupthatreceivedacomplimentdidsignificantlybetter
thantheothertwogroups.Afterdoingmoreresearch,theyfoundthatthesamepartof
thebrainthatwasstimulatedbythecomplimentisalsostimulatedbyreceivingacash
reward(DiSalvo).Becausetheseresearcherswereabletofindsignificantevidence
thatacomplimentcanimproveperformanceonasimpletask,Iwonderedifthereisa
similarresultwhenaskedtodoafavor.ThequestionIwillbetestingisifthereisa
correlationbetweengivingacomplimentandwillingnesstodoafavor.
TotestthisquestionIwillbedrawingfromthepopulationofLASAHighSchool
seniors.Todothis,Iwillassigneverysenioranumber.Iwillthenrandomlypick40
numbersthatwillcorrelatetothestudentswhowillbepartofmysample.Theonlybias
thatcouldbepresentinthissampleisthatmanyofthestudentsthatarerandomly
chosenprobablyknowme,sotheycouldbebiasedonhowtheyrespondtomeasking
forafavor.Aftercreatingmysample,Iwillgive20ofthestudentsacomplimentand
theother20nocomplimentbeforeaskingforafavor.Forthisexperimentmy


20

complimentwillsimplybeIlikeyourshirt.,andmyfavorwillbeCanIborrowa
dollar?.TocollectthisdataIwillfindeachstudentindividually,complimentthemor
not,andthenasktoborrowadollar.Iwillthenrecordtheirresponse,returnthedollarif
theygavemeone,andgettheirsignaturetoshowthattheywerepartofthe
experiment.
Mydatawillbesplitintotwogroups,thosewhoreceivedacomplimentandthose
whodidnot.Theirresponsetotherequestforafavorwillberecordedaseitheryesor
no.BecauseIamevaluatingtwocategoricalvariablesthatweretakenfromasingle
sample,Iwillbeusingachisquaredtestofindependence.Forthistest,mynull
hypothesiswillbethatthereisnoassociationbetweenreceivingacomplimentand
willingnesstodoafavor.Myalternativehypothesiswillbethatthereisanassociation
betweenreceivingacomplimentandwillingnesstodoafavor.BeforeIcanrunthistest
Ineedtomakesurethatmyassumptionsaremet.BasedonmydatacollectionI
alreadyknowthatmydatawillberandom.Also,Iknowthatasinglesubjectcantbein
boththeyesandnocategoryforrespondingtoafavor,andalsocantbothreceive
andnotreceiveacompliment.AfterIcollectmydataIwillbeabletotestmylasttwo
assumptionsaboutexpectedcounts.TofindmyconclusionforthisquestionIwillput
mydataintoacalculatorandrunachisquaredtestofindependencesothatIcanfind
thepvalueandcompareittomyalphaof0.05.
MyreasonforthisquestionisthatIwanttoseeifasimplecomplimentcan
changethewayapersonrespondstoyou.Byaddingthefavorofaskingforadollar,I
canseeifpeoplearemorewillingtodoafavorthatIwouldnotnormallyaskofthem


21

afterIgivethemacompliment.Mymainissuewiththisexperimentwillprobablybe
trackingdownallthepeoplewhoIrandomlychooseformysample.AlsoIwillhaveto
makethecomplimentlooknaturalandnotforcedinanywaysothattheydonotthinkit
ispartofanexperiment.Alsowhenaskingforadollar,itcantbeobviousthatthe
complimentwasjustanopenerforthefavor.ButIthinkIwillprobablybeableto
accomplishthesethings.Someothersmallproblemsthatmaycomewiththequestion
ismanypeoplemaybeunwillingtogiveupadollarnomatterwhatcircumstancethey
arein.Also,somepeoplemaynotactuallyhaveadollaronthem.Ifthishappens,Iwill
moveontothenextrandomlygeneratednumberandusethatstudentinstead.But
overall,IthinkthisisasolidexperimentandIminterestedtoseetheresults
.


22

I.ProjectRoughDraft
Astudyreportedby
Forbes
magazineconcludedthatreceivingacomplimenthas
thesamepositiveimpactasreceivingmoney.Totestthis,researcherstook48adults
andhadthemtypeoutaspecificpatternonakeyboardasfastaspossible.Theirtimes
were
then
recorded.Theythensplittheadultsintothreegroups.Onegroupreceiveda
compliment,onegroupwatchedanotherpersonreceiveacompliment,andthethird
groupreceivednocomplimentandevaluatedthemselvesonagraph.Theadultswere
thenbroughtinthenextdayandaskedtotypeoutthesamepatternonthekeyboardas
fastaspossible,andtheirtimeswererecordedonceagain.Theresearchersfoundthat
thegroupthatreceivedacomplimenthadsignificantlyfastertimesthantheothertwo
groups.Afterdoingmoreresearch,theyfoundthatthesamepartofthebrainthatwas
stimulatedbythecomplimentwasalsostimulatedbyreceivingacashreward(DiSalvo).
Becausetheseresearcherswereabletofindsignificantevidencethata
complimentcanimproveperformanceonasimpletask,therecouldalsobea
relationshipbetweenreceivingacomplimentandotherthingslikefavors.Thequestion
thatwillbetestedisifthereisacorrelationbetweenbeinggivenacomplimentand
willingnesstodoafavor.Forthistest,thenullhypothesiswillbethattheproportionof
responsesarethesamewhetherornotIgavethemacompliment.Thealternative
hypothesiswillbethattheproportionofresponsesarenotthesameacrossall
categories.ThepopulationthatthesampleisbeingdrawnfromisallLASAseniors.
Basedontheresults,therecouldbesignificantevidencetosuggestthatgivingaLASA
senioracomplimentcaninfluencethemtodoafavorforyou.Ifitisassumedthata


23

LASAseniorrepresentstheaverageperson,thiscoulddefinitelybeusedbythe
averagepersontotakeadvantageofthosearoundthemandgetfreefavorsoutof
peopletheycompliment.
Thewaythesamplewasmadewasbyobtaining
toget
alistofalltheLASA
seniorsandthenrandomlyselecting40ofthemwithanonlinerandomlistgenerator.
Thefirst20thatweregeneratedreceivedacomplimentandthesecond20didnot.To
testmyhypothesis,thepopulationbeingusedisallLASAHighSchoolseniors.Theonly
biasthatcouldbepresentinthissampleisthatmanyofthestudentsthatarerandomly
chosenknowme,sotheycouldbebiasedonhowtheyrespondtomeaskingfora
favor.Forthisexperimentthecomplimentwillsimplybeacomplimenton
to
something
thatthestudentiswearing(whetheritbetheirshoes,shirt,etc.).Thefavorwillbe,
Wouldyoubewillingtofilloutthissurveyforme?
.
Thesurveywillsimplybeapage
fullofrandomquestionsabouttheirsex,age,haircolor,etc.Thequestionsonthe
surveydonotreallymatter,becausethestudentsresponsetothefavoristheactual
data.Tocollectthedata,eachstudentwillbefoundindividuallyandthenaskedtofill
outthesurvey.Theirresponsewillberecordedandasignaturewillbeacquiredas
proofthatthestudentwasspokento.
Beforerunningthechisquaredtestofhomogeneity,firsttheassumptionshave
tobechecked.Therandomassumptionismetbecausethesampleisasimplerandom
sample.Theindependentassumptionismetbecauseastudentcannothavemultiple
responsestothefavorandtheycantbecomplimentedandnotcomplimentedatthe
sametime.Thefirstexpectedcountassumptionismetbecausealltheexpectedvalues


24

aregreaterthanone,thesmallestonebeing3.5.Butthesecondexpectedcounts
assumptionisnotmet,becausemorethan20%ofthevaluesarelessthanfive.Two
outofthefourvaluesare3.5.Thismeansthatthedatacouldbesubjecttoquestion.
Runningachisquaredtestofhomogeneityproducedachisquaredvalueof
1.5584,1degree
s
offreedom,andapvalueof0.2119.Becausethepvalueof0.2119
isgreaterthanthealphavalueof0.05,wefailtorejectthenullhypothesisthatthe
proportionofresponsesarethesamewhetherornotthestudentreceiveda
compliment.Therefore,wedonothavesignificantevidencetosupporttheclaimthat
theproportionofresponsesarenotthesamewhetherornotthestudentreceiveda
compliment.
ThismeansthatforthepopulationofLASAseniors,receivingacomplimentdid
nothaveasignificantinfluenceontheirwillingnesstodoafavor.Ofthe40students,
fivewhodidnotreceiveacomplimentdidnotwanttofilloutthesurveyandonlytwo
whodidreceiveacomplimentdidnotwanttofillitout.Thismeansthatfewerstudents
whoreceivedacomplimentdidnotwanttofilloutthesurvey,butitwasnotsignificant
enoughofadifference.I
f
thisdataisappliedtotheaverageperson,itwouldmean
s
thatgettingfreefavorsfrompeoplebygivingthemcomplimentswouldnotactually
work.
Butthereareseveralproblemswiththedatathatcouldleadtoaquestionable
conclusion.Firstofall,oneoftheassumptionswasnotmetwhichcouldmeanthata
chisquaredtestofhomogeneitywasnotappropriate.Also,mostofthestudentswho
didnotwanttofilloutthesurveyknowme,sotheyweremorecomfortablewithtelling


25

methattheydidnotwanttofillitout.Thisisdefinitelyabiasthatcouldleadto
questionableresults.Thebestwaythatthisexperimentcouldberepeatedtomakeit
lessbiasedwouldbetoperformitwithlargegroupofrandomstrangers.Thiswaythe
peoplewouldnotknowmesotheycouldnotbebiasedinansweringandalsoalarger
samplecouldbetakentohelpmeettoexpectedcountsassumption.Itwouldnolonger
beasimplerandomsample,soconveniencebiaswouldbepresent.Butitwould
definitelybemorerepresentativeoftheaverageperson.


26

J.PeerReview