Group 13 - Duck Buddies

3/4/14 - Today we configured the details to our experiment for Competition vs. Cooperation. Our experiment consists of two bins full of water and rubber ducks. None of the ducks in the water squeak except for one. The challenge is to find the duck that squeaks as fast as possible while blindfolded. In the first sequence of the experiment, there will be two competitors. Each competitor will have their own bin of ducks to search through while blindfolded. The object is to get a faster time than the opponent. This sequence represents a game with competitive qualities. In the second sequence, the person with the best time will remain blindfolded while the loser takes their blindfold off. The losing person will now help direct the blindfolded person to find the duck that squeaks (which will be visually distinguishable from the non-squeaking ducks). This sequence of the experiment exerts cooperative qualities using two people that were once competitors. The winning time from the competitive sequence will then be compared to the time it took for the cooperative task to be completed in order to see whether competition or cooperation garners more success.

3/7/14 - Today we figured out how many trials we need to do in order to get our sufficient amount of experiment participants. We gathered together what materials we need and how we will obtain them. We tried to figure out the name of our booth but we couldn't think of anything clever just yet.

3/10/14 - Today we brainstormed on the name of the experiment. We decided to make a pun on "The Trucking Game" experiment in psychology and call our booth "The Duck-ing Game". We're so funny it's insane. We also discussed the materials that we would need and we actually figured out where we need to go to get these items. We decided that we'll all make a trip together to Wal-Mart, Five Below & Party City to get everything we need for the experiment which includes things such as the rubber ducks (Obviously), gallons of water, and large bins to contain everything in. I also drew the diagram for our experiment and it looked absolutely atrocious because I'm not an artist, but I don't think it matters too much. We also took a picture that none of us were ready for. We'll look better tomorrow. We promise.

3/17/14 - Over the long weekend, Natalie, Diana & I went to a bunch of stores to get our materials. We decided to go with a little bit of a different plan for our experiment. Instead of having all ducks in the water and having one that squeaks, we picked up 2 packs of assorted floating animals. Instead, we will tell the test subjects to find a specific animal on each trial. With our new plan, we also came up with a new name for the booth, "Duck Buddies." Today we worked on our poster board for the project as well.

3/18/14 - Today we mostly worked on our poster board. We finished up the titles at the top and we began printing out pictures of the animal bath toys that we're using in our experiment. We still have a lot of work to do.

3/19/14 - Today we met in the mezzanine during our lunch period to print some things out for the poster. We ended up printing out the rules, experiment explanation, directions for the experiment, cartoon riddles and some more visuals. We actually got a lot accomplished during just one hour, and we still have all of next hour to work on our poster board as well!