Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi, My science project is "Honesty: How prevalent is it?"
here is the introduction for it:

If you've ever done fund-raising with a bake sale for your school or some other organization, you know it's a lot of work. You have to organize donations, advertise the sale, then set up and sell the items and collect the money. How do you think it would work if you tried to raise money on the honor system? For example, what if you had cookies or some other baked goodies available for a voluntary donation? Do you think people would make contributions honestly, or would they take cookies without paying? Would it make a difference if the location for donations was watched or not? That's what this experiment is designed to find out.

You'll need to get permission from your school (or other organization) to set up this experiment. You'll also need a worthy cause (like a class trip, or a charity organization) to accept the donations you collect. You will need a secured lockbox to collect the donations—you don't want to tempt someone into walking off with your cash box, so make sure it is locked closed and securely fastened in place. Finally, you'll need two locations to try your experiment. One location should always be under observation: the school office, for example. The other location should be a public place that is not always under direct observation: a public lobby, for example.

i dont know if i want to use baked goods or something else like colorful pencils or pens. Also how would it affect the project if i tied i little note around i the baked good or pencil saying "Thank you for supporting....etc." ? Also for this science project we need to have at least five different sources and one CAN'T be from the internet and Wikipeida does not count and i am having difficulty finding those sources. any suggestions would help soo much!!! Thanks!!

What i mean is i need help on research on the honor system.

Gamegirl,

I think your idea of using colorful pens or pencils is a good one--though in any case this is something you should talk with your teacher about; you often need special permission to work with human subjects in science fair projects. You may need additional permissions if you want to use baked goods.

Try looking up the word 'altruism'--that's a scientific term for an animal doing something that benefits someone else at a cost to themselves. Altruism (at least, altruism not directed toward close family members) is incredibly rare in the animal kingdom, and even in humans there have been studies where they have shown that, for example, people are more likely to donate blood if they get stickers or other items that they can then use to signal to other people that they're a 'good' person. Some of the more cynical behavioral ecologists I know think that there is no such thing as true altruism!

One comment I had about your experimental design is that you probably don't want to call it a 'voluntary donation' if you truly want to look at honesty. If the donation is voluntary, someone is still being honest if they take a pencil but do not make a donation (the donation was not required). Thus, I suggest you make the donation small, but mandatory, and then collect it on the honor system.

Random fact--all of Princeton University's exams are given on the honor system. Students pledge not to cheat and to turn in any cheaters if they see cheating, and professors hand out the exams and then leave the room (which is very inconvenient when someone has a question!). You might consider looking up more information about that on Princeton's website.

MelissaB wrote:Gamegirl,


Try looking up the word 'altruism'--that's a scientific term for an animal doing something that benefits someone else at a cost to themselves. Altruism (at least, altruism not directed toward close family members) is incredibly rare in the animal kingdom, and even in humans there have been studies where they have shown that, for example, people are more likely to donate blood if they get stickers or other items that they can then use to signal to other people that they're a 'good' person. Some of the more cynical behavioral ecologists I know think that there is no such thing as true altruism!

Wow! Thanks sooo much! I will definitely use that in my Review of Literature...i'll look it up!

I have another thing, i know i am supposed to have two locations, one closely observed and one not. I thinking about using my schools' lobby/office and a library but i don't know which one is more closely observed. In my schools's office at least two or three teachers are ALWAYS there and in the library i don't think people (librarians, people that are looking for books, etc.) are always paying attention to such things.... and then again maybe they are? What do you think?? Once again thanks for your help!

The office sounds like a great place for an 'observed' location. Except when the office is very busy, the people in the office will notice a student coming in or out. Besides, at least back at my old school I know students thought that the office was somewhere you had to be on your best behavior.

I'm not sure about the library. Could you maybe make sure there's a shelf in between the librarians and the table? It wouldn't matter if the librarians walked by it occasionally as long as it wasn't constantly in their line of vision. Still, I would be tempted to put it out in a hallway somewhere--somewhere where there would not be adults observing it.

This sounds like a great project, good luck with it!

Hi gamegirl,

This is an interesting project to do. When you select your watched and unwatched locations, try to pick places that get similar amounts of student/teacher traffic. The school office, I'm thinking, might have mostly faculty coming through, whereas the library might be more students, and that could skew your results.

good luck!

MelissaB wrote:Gamegirl,


One comment I had about your experimental design is that you probably don't want to call it a 'voluntary donation' if you truly want to look at honesty. If the donation is voluntary, someone is still being honest if they take a pencil but do not make a donation (the donation was not required). Thus, I suggest you make the donation small, but mandatory, and then collect it on the honor system.

I have a question about this....how would i make it mandatory? Would i put a sign saying something like "Donate to help this charity and receive a free pencil." ? Or something along the lines of that? Im not sure....

Once again i would like to thank all of you for your help this site has been very helpful and i plan to use this resource a lot so expect me to be asking more questions!!

"Donate to help this charity and receive a free pencil." sounds perfect.

I think what Melissa B is getting at is that if you say "Have a free pencil, and donation is voluntary"--that is, optional--you won't really be measuring people's honesty, but their charitableness. Whereas "Donate, then you get a pencil" implies that the pencil is in return for donating, so you're measuring how many people take a pencil without donating.

make sense?

Exactly .

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!! That totally makes sense...

MelissaB wrote:Random fact--all of Princeton University's exams are given on the honor system. Students pledge not to cheat and to turn in any cheaters if they see cheating, and professors hand out the exams and then leave the room (which is very inconvenient when someone has a question!). You might consider looking up more information about that on Princeton's website.

Not so random either. Stanford University does exactly the same thing, as does Olin College of Engineering. Honesty is a very powerful subject.

Hey guys its me again! Quick question, i'm about to start working on my board and i just wanted to know which panel to start on? I've heard since Americans read left to right that's how i should present my board ( i.e Statement of Purpose on the left panel, conclusion on the right panel, not the other way around)is this how it is usually done? I can't remember how i did it last year....

Thanks for the help!,

Gamegirl13


PS Here is the color scheme i am using for my board so far it looks pretty cool!!!!--- and (Hopefully this turns out right! I'm crossing my fingers!

Okay that didn't work.... anyway the colors im using are sort of a neon blue and hot pink

Hi,

I'm curious--what did you find out?

Science Buddies has a great guide to assembling a display board here: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... oard.shtml . And yes, it's usually done left to right rather than the other way around (although some people have other arrangements that also work).

Good luck!

Ahh, okay. Well, do let us know once you have results--I'm really curious . Good luck with everything!

Hey guys,
Tomorrow is the big day of the science fair presentation!!!! Yay!!!! As it turned out people were just as honest when there are alot of people watching as opposed to when people aren't watching....every single person was completely honest!! They took pencil when they donated and didn't take one when they didn't donate. I'm soooo happy!! My hypothesis was spot on!!! Thank you guys soooo much!!!

Wow, that's really interesting! Congratulations on finishing the project, and good luck tomorrow!