Ghostbusters – Activity #1
Class Activity #1 – Chapter 1 – Ghostbusters! – Hybrid Methods II, Spring 2020
Circle One: Monday Wednesday Friday
Your Names: __________________________________________________________________
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn7-JZq0Yxs
Instructions: Think about this video clip from the movie “Ghostbusters” in which Dr. Vankman (played by Bill Murray) conducted a research study on participant’s ESP ability after exposing them to electrical shocks. Answer the following questions about the clip. You may use your book, but I am more interested in your group’s gut reactions here, so there is no need to get technical.
- What do you think Dr. Vankman was predicting / hypothesizing in his experiment? In other words, what is his hypothes(es)?
- Do you think this experiment was a valid assessment of ESP ability? Why or why not? What do we mean by “valid”?
- Do you think this experiment was a reliable assessment of ESP ability? Why or why not? What do we mean by “reliable”?
- What are some of the methodological problems with this study? How would you fix them?
- What are the ethical problems you see with this study? How would you fix them?
- Design a better study. You can keep the same prediction you noted for #1, but make sure to provide your independent and dependent variables (and note what they are). How are you going to maintain control in this experimental design? Alternatively, how would you study this as a correlational design?
