1

Likelihood of Different Races to Socialize In Elevators

Description
Andrew Saville, Bryan Crutchfield
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Long Title

Bryan Crutchfield 12/2/2014 10:53 AM

Comment [1]: Why is the word
"description" on your title page?

Elevators are beautiful things. They take the widely accepted concepts of both personal
space and avoiding strangers, and throw them out the window. Space creates settings for
appropriate behavior, enable/disables privacy and facilitates/inhibits interaction from others

Bryan Crutchfield 12/2/2014 10:44 AM

Comment [2]: This is a good start! I like
your opening! You need to provide more
background information. Aim for around 3
paragraphs. Look at the example if you
need help. Eliminate 2nd person.

(Little, Biggs, Coventry,2005, p 256). Elevators take away this space, forcing interactions with
others. Common elevator behavior is to take out a phone or avoid eye contact with whoever is
there with you. The small spaces of elevators can also cause feelings of claustrophobia for some
people. In a more ideal society, people in an elevator will have meaningful conversations with
each other. The goal of this experiment is to prove that starting a conversation in an elevator, or
any tight place, is nothing to be intimidated by.
Participants
The subjects of the experiment are random people that step into an elevator. The
experiments are conducted in a building with many floors, making it highly likely to see many
different people, even after multiple trips up and down on the elevator. For the best results, the
experiment should be conducted in a diverse setting.
Measurements
A point system has been designed for this experiment. Participants are recorded as a
number on the data table. Participants initially have zero points. They are first asked hey, hows
it going? If the participant smiled, but said nothing (clearly avoiding conversation), or simply
had no type of response, they were given one point. If the participant gave a one-word response,
such as good, or fine, they were given two points. If the participant gives a conversationstriking response (good, how about you? or bad, and precedes to tell why things arent going
well), they are given 3 points, the maximum amount for the experiment.
Procedure

Bryan Crutchfield 12/2/2014 10:46 AM

Comment [3]: Be specific about the
demographics of your participants.
Bryan Crutchfield 12/2/2014 10:46 AM
Comment [4]:
Don't say what should be done. Say
what you did.
Put everything in past tense.
Look up how to punctuate and
capitalize with quotations.
A data recorder sounds like an
instrument that automatically records
data. Was it a person?
Avoid using "they" to refer to a singular
person.

A data recorder is present in an elevator, with no obvious intent of conducting an

experiment. Data is recorded on a smartphone, for the purpose of being inconspicuous. First the
race of the participant is recorded. Then they are asked the set of questions, and points are
marked based on their responses.

In the environment where the experiment was conducted, the predominant race of the
population was white, and the smallest minority consisted of Hispanic people. There were 50
participants in the study. 27 of which were white, 14 black, 6 Asian, and 3 Hispanic. The results
show that in an elevator, black participants indulge in conversation more than any other race.
86% of black participants spoke, 83% of Asian participants spoke, 70% of white participants
spoke, and 33% of Hispanic participants spoke.

Based on our point system, the composite scores of each race are as follows:
White: 56 points (86% response)
Black: 32 points (94% response)
Asian: 13 points (92% response)
Hispanic: 4 points (50% response)

Trial No.

No. of People

Race

White

Gender

Points Earned
3

Bryan Crutchfield 12/2/2014 10:50 AM

Comment [5]:
Tables should not extend beyond one
page and should help a reader
understand your data. In your results
section, you must explain and refer to
the table. You can't just put it there and
expect your reader to understand it.

White

Black

Asian

Black

Black

White

White

White

White

Hispanic

White

White

Black

Asian

10

White

White

Black

11

12

Hispanic

13

White

White

Asian

Asian

14

15

White

16

Black

Black

White

Hispanic

White

17

18

Black

19

White

White

Black

Black

Asian

20

21

22

23

White

White

White

White

Black

White

White

24

White

25

White

White

White

Black

Black

26

White

27

Asian

White

Discussion

The data gathered in this experiment show that in an elevator, black people are more likely to
indulge in friendly conversation than any other race. hispanic people appear to be less likely to
do so. This doesnt necessarily mean that black people are more sociable than others. Perhaps

Bryan Crutchfield 12/2/2014 10:51 AM

Comment [6]: Check capitalization for
races.

black people are less bothered by being confined to a small space. Out of 50 participants, 37
spoke (74%), which is a solid percentage. The small percentage of participants that didnt speak
Some limitations in the experiment should be noted; the given environment may not be the most
ideal for this type of experiment. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte is a PWI
(predominantly white institution), so the minority data will be skewed because there are less
participants. Of all the trials conducted, only 3 Hispanic people entered the elevator, so they are
probably not well represented as a race. But the main thing found in this experiment is that
people will respond if you take the initiative to start a conversation.

Bryan Crutchfield 12/2/2014 10:51 AM

Comment [7]:
Don't use an acronym if you're only
discussing it once. Just use the full
term. Also, I believe UNCC is the closest
to an actual representation of the
population of the state compared to any
other university in North Carolina.

References

Nancy K. Baym, Yan Bing Zhang & Mei-Chen Lin. (2004). Social interactions across
media. New Media & Society. 6(3), 299-318.

Kynan Eng, Matti Mintz, and Paul F M J Verschure. (2005). Collective Human Behaivor In
Interactive Spaces. International Conference on Robotics and Automation (112-114)

Bryan Crutchfield 12/2/2014 10:52 AM

Comment [8]: Why is the word
"description" on your title page?
Place the word and between your
names instead of the comma.
Start a new page for your reference list.
These are not APA citations. Check
OWL or go to the WRC for help.
MINIMUM of 3 peer-reviewed journal
articles