Discuss the following:
Research Methods
My intro psych text, Another Introduction to Psychology by Brandon Vilolis in the social psychology chapter on page 132 says "birds of a feather flock together." As a psychologist, I am interested in finding out if this is true. I don't think it is because when I go to the park there are all different kinds of ducks and geese in the lake and there are lots of different birds that come to my mom's feeder. According to John Smith, A. V. Smiley and Abigail Birdsong, there are over a thousand speicies of birds in the US. The hypothesis for this study is that birds with different feathers flock together.
METHOD
Birds were observed in 2 locations, outside a kitchen window at a feeder with a variety of bird foods available, and in a park with large open areas and a small lake. An area approximately 10 feet square was marked on the ground with rope. Any bird landing in the area during a 10 minute observation period was recorded on a data sheet with columns with space for different varieties of birds.
Results
There were 17 birds observed in the markd area by the feeder (See table 1). There were five different varieties of bird observed in the park (see table 1)
Table 1
Birds observed
Number of birds Different Birds
Park 22 5
Kitchen 17 7
This study proves that birds of a feathr do not flock together because there were different varieties of birds found at both locations. I was glad to find that I was right. A study I found in the library by John Smith, A. V. Smiley and Abigail Birdsong said that there are over a thousand varieties of birds in North America. However, I didn't find that many birds, Smith, Smiley and Birdsong say that some birds are hard to spot. But I am sure that I saw some of the thousend birds that it is possible to see.
Summary: This study succeeded in proving that birds of a feather do not flock together because different birds were counted in bothe the park and outside the kitchen window.
Bibliography
John Smith, A. V. Smiley, and Abagail Bridsong Birds of north america: count them if you can. The american bird monthly, volume 19 number 11, pages 101, 102, and 103. November, 1992.
Another Introduction to Psychology by Brandon Vilolis, 1990 Psychology Text Publishers, New Jersey