Letterboxing Psyc. Paper

About two weeks ago I posted a request on the AQ boards for people to take a survey for my project for my psychology class. I know some were interested in my results. Below is the project I turned in. Word for word.
Thank you to everyone who took my survey! I only needed minimum of40 people to take it and 97 people took it!

I also got a perfect on my paper! :)

Letterboxer’s Hiking Activities

Is there a correlation between gender and hiking activities during letterboxing? This research question led me to my two hypotheses.  I hypothesize that most letterboxers are female and do not feel comfortable and/or safe hiking alone. I also hypothesize that  letterboxers hike one mile or less while letterboxing because most letterboxers live in urban areas that don't provide high-mile hiking areas, and most boxes are hidden in cemeteries. After the hypotheses were formed I used the survey method together to gather data to test my hypotheses.

           I created a seven question survey on surveymonkey.com, which I posted on a popular letterboxing website, atlasquest.com. My target population was those who participate in letterboxing. In one of the discussion boards I stated I was doing a research project for my psychology class about letterboxing. I did this on a Friday night and within a two day span I received over 90 completed surveys. The first three questions of the survey were for my first hypothesis:  I hypothesize that most letterboxers are female and do not feel comfortable and/or safe hiking alone.

1. Are you male for female?

            2. Do you hike alone while letterboxing? (if yes, skip question #3)

3. Do you hike with others because you don’t feel comfortable and/ or safe hiking alone?

           My last four questions were for my second hypothesis: I  hypothesize that letterboxers hike one mile or less while letterboxing because most letterboxers live in urban areas that don't provide high-mile hiking areas, and most boxes are hidden in cemeteries.

4. How many miles to you typically hike while letterboxing?

            5. Do you live in an urban area?

            6. Are high mile (1+ miles) hiking areas available where you letterbox?

7. Are most of the letterboxes you find hidden in cemeteries?

           There were 97 letterboxers who participated in my survey. For my first hypothesis, I found that 81.4% were female and 18.6% were male. Only 37.1% of those letterboxers hiked alone. The other 62.9% did not hike alone. For question three, 45.6% choose to hike with others because they did not feel comfortable and/or safe while hiking alone. The results from this question are not truly accurate because some letterboxers who answered “yes” to question two did not skip question three even though the instructions said to. For my second hypothesis, I learned that 23.7% of letterboxers hike one mile or less, 46.4% hike one to two miles, 24.7% hike two to three miles, 1.0% hike four to five miles, and 4.1% hike five plus miles. Next, 53.6% of letterboxers live in urban areas and the other 46.4% do not. In the areas they letterbox, 71.1% have high mile hiking areas provided and the other 22.9% are not provided with high mile hiking areas. Lastly, only 7.2% of letterboxers find boxes in cemeteries. The other 92.8% find boxes elsewhere.

           After analyzing my data, I have concluded that my first hypothesis is right but my second hypothesis is wrong. In my first hypothesis I was correct that most letterboxers are female and do not hike alone. The results make the hypothesis appear incorrect, but the data collection was flawed because people did not follow the directions stated in question two. If the subject answered “yes” to question two, then they should have skipped question three, but 7% of the participants did not skip the question. In my second hypothesis I was correct about most letterboxers living in urban areas, however, I was wrong about letterboxers in urban areas not being provided with high-mile hiking areas and most boxes being hidden in cemeteries.

           As a result of my two hypotheses I have concluded that there is a correlation between gender and hiking habits during letterboxing. Most letterboxers are female and do not feel comfortable and/or safe hiking alone, and even though most letterboxers live in urban areas, almost half hike one to two miles when they letterbox.

 

 

 

~Catchow