Attitudes Towards Drunk Driving Do

Attitudes Towards Drunk Driving Do attitudes differ towards drunk driving as a function of race age or gender? In order to examine the comparative differences in attitudes towards drunk driving as a function of race, gender and age, a survey methodology will be used with a sample of 30 participants. The sample collected will consist of 30 participants, evenly distributed by race and gender.

Half of the sample will be male and half of the sample female, with each of these groups further divided in half into participants who are Caucasian and participants who are African-American. The sample will be recruited using semi-random selection methods using the university's enrollment statistics. The enrollment lists will be divided by the categories of interest (gender and race) and then from these lists, equal numbers will be selected to be invited to participate in the research.

Invitations will continue until the appropriate number of participants has been recruited in each of the four categories. Although age is also a variable of interest, the sample will not be selected for age. Thus, the target population that this study is aiming to address is based on the university community from which the sample is drawn. Drinking is an important issue on college campuses, and thus attitudes towards drinking and driving are an important topic of investigation within this population.

Materials Participants will complete a survey that measures their attitudes towards drinking and their attitudes towards drunk driving. In addition, participants will provide information related to their personal demographics (age, gender, race), as well as information concerning their own level of drinking and whether or not they have ever driven drunk. Finally, participants will complete a measure of social desirability.

Given the sensitive nature of the topic, it is possible that participants will attempt to consciously or unconsciously conceal their true opinions and thus a measure of social desirability can be useful in terms of indicating to what extent participants might be altering their answers to appear more in line with the accepted norms of opinions. Procedure As described above, enrollment lists from the University will be collected and divided based on race and gender. From these lists, eight participants will be sent invitations to participate in the study.

Each time one of these participants declines to participate, an additional individual from that category will be randomly selected and invited to participate. This will continue until a sample size of 30 has been achieved. Participants will be invited to visit the lab, where they will complete an informed consent which will inform them that their participation in the study is entirely voluntary and that they are free to withdraw at any time.

They will then be placed in a quiet room alone where they will be given a paper copy of the survey and asked to provide answers to each question as honestly as possible. Upon completing the questionnaire participants will be thanked and given a piece of candy as compensation and then will be provided with a debriefing sheet and some reading material on the dangers of drunk driving as well as a list of local resources related to drinking.

Data Analysis The data will be analyzed using two tailed t-tests to test for differences in the means between groups. Scores will be calculated on each of the measures taken, which will provide.