#2 (Sense and Nonsense About Surveys)&(The Stanford Prison Experiment)

    <Sense and Nonsense About Surveys>

       The article "Sense and Nonsense About Surveys" by Howard Schuman is briefly discussing the importance of sampling in surveys and how a survey is affected by its own form and content.
       He states that regardless of population size, the sample size needed to achieve a certain degree of precision remains the same. He also talks about how important as sampling method which considers who is included in the sample and who is missing.
       In addition, he points out that things as simple as variation in wording or question order can impact survey results. However, if the wording and order are kept constant over time, reliable correlations can be measured.
       Finally, he mentions that interpretation of survey results must be comparative: " a 75 percent rating of lectures as 'excellent' takes on a quite different meaning depending on whether the average for other lecture courses is 50 percent or 90 percent". It emphasizes that it is important to use a comparative analysis for easy to understand and compare the results of different survey researchers with regard to socially sensitive subjects.
       This article is quite understandable how to interpret and evaluate the surveys and polls with right guidelines.

 <The Stanford Prison Experiment>

      The Stanford Prison Experiment shows that the powerful role that the situation can play in human behavior. The 24 volunteers were randomly assigned to either the prisoner group or the guard group. The prisoners were to remain in the mock prison 24-hours a day for the duration of the study. Guards, on the other hand, were assigned to work in three-man teams for eight-hour shifts.
      Because the guards were placed in a position of power, they began to behave in ways they would not normally act in their everyday lives or in other situations. The prisoners, placed in a situation where they had no real control, became passive and depressed. It was quite interesting to see how human behaves with variable situation. However, I believe that using human for experiment would be considering to an unethical research.