ERIC Number: EJ938731
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Jan-4
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1088-7423
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Available Date: N/A
Does Major Matter? Considering the Implications of Collecting Vignette Data from Our Students
Collett, Jessica L.; Childs, Ellen
Current Research in Social Psychology, v14 n7 p104-121 Jan 2009
Social psychologists in both sociology and psychology commonly use vignettes to gauge how people might respond in a given situation. Research subjects in such studies, like those in other experiments, are often undergraduates, surveyed or recruited in classes. While there has been significant attention to the generalizability of students' attitudes to other groups, here were turn our attention to differences within the student population and ask how reliable responses are from particular classes. With previous research suggesting that college coursework influences egalitarianism, defection rates in ultimatum games, and attribution of blame, researchers must consider that the differences in subject pools might affect other variables of interest. In this research we compare responses to vignettes about procedural, interactional, and distributive justice from students in popular sociology and business classes. The results indicate that there is no significant difference in the how these two groups conceptualize justice. We discuss the importance of this null-finding. (Contains 2 tables.)
Descriptors: Social Psychology, Psychologists, Sociology, Psychology, Vignettes, College Students, Student Subcultures, Majors (Students), Business Administration Education, Social Sciences, Student Attitudes, Differences, Generalizability Theory, Justice
Center for the Study of Group Processes. Available from: University of Iowa, Department of Sociology. Iowa City, IA 52242. Tel: 319-335-2503; Fax: 319-335-2509; Web site: http://www.uiowa.edu/~grpproc/crisp/crisp.html
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A