Web Exercises

Click on the following links. Please note these will open in a new window.

  1. Go to the Stanford Prison Experiment website at www.prisonexp.org. Read the information provided about the Stanford Prison Experiment.
    1. Write a brief essay on the study, including the purpose of the study, the type of experiment, the participant selection process, the problems encountered during the study, and the results.
    2. Go to the discussion questions provided on the website. Answer the questions listed. What conclusions do you make about the Stanford Prison Experiment?
       
  2. Go to the website of the Community Oriented Policing Services at http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/. What causal assertions are made? Pick one of these assertions and propose a research design with which to test this assertion. Be specific.
     
  3. Go to Crime Stoppers USA’s Web site at http://www.crimestoppersusa.com/ Check out “About Us” and “What is Crime Stoppers?” How is CSUSA “fighting crime”? What does CSUSA’s approach assume about the cause of crime? Do you think CSUSA’s approach to fighting crime is based on valid conclusions about causality? Explain.
     
  4. Go to the Disaster Center website, www.disastercenter.com/crime . Review the crime rate nationally and, by picking out links to state reports, compare the recent crime rates in two states. Report on the prevalence of the crimes you have examined. Propose a causal explanation for variation in crime between states, over time, or both. What research design would you propose to test this explanation? Explain.