Observation of How Many College Students Look Both Ways before Crossing the Street

For my research topic I decided to observe how many of my college peers actually look
both ways before crossing a street. When I was growing up my parents repeatedly stressed how
important it was to look both ways before crossing any street. This lesson has stuck with me and
to this day whenever I cross a street I always look both ways. I decided to observe this behavior
because I wanted to see how similar (or different) the values my parents taught me were to
others. I believe this study can show how big of an effect parents can have on a childs mind, and
how whatever children learn at a young age may stay with them for the rest of their lives.
I expect to see the majority, if not all, of the people I observe to look both ways before
they cross the street. I believe that this is a very important lesson that almost everyone is taught
at a young age. I also believe that people will be more likely to look both ways before crossing
the street at night time and in poor weather such as snow. From my own personal experience, I
know that at night time and when weather gets bad people are generally more careful about their
actions.
For my procedure I decided to make my observations outside of a faculty building on
campus. Outside of this faculty building is one of the main walkways that leads from the dorms
on campus to one of the main class room halls. This walkway leads across a road that is the main
access to the commuter parking lot, and is a road that I personally cross every day on my way to
and from class. I decided to make four observations on the same road, but at different times of
the day, and under different weather circumstances. I chose to observe the road during the night
and day during a snowy and sunny day. I also decided to further classify my observations by
splitting my study according to gender. I chose to observe ten people under each circumstance,
giving me a total of 40 random people. Now with the road being very busy, I decided to only

observe students who were by themselves. I feared that the influence of others could ultimately
change the personal actions one would make if they were alone. I was able to make my
observations from the top of the steps which led down to the road, and I also pretended to be in
the middle of a cell phone conversation so people would continue on with their routines and pay
no attention to me. But my observations caught me off guard, and were really something that I
did not expect.
Table 1: # of Gender Observed Crossing the Street

Females
Males

Day (Clear Sky)

6
4

Night (Clear Sky)

4
6

Day (Snowing)
7
3

Night (Snowing)
2
8

Day (Snowing)
4 of 7
2 of 3

Night (Snowing)
2 of 2
6 of 8

Table 2: # of People to Look Both Ways

Females
Males

Day (Clear Sky)

3 of 6
2 of 4

Night (Clear Sky)

4 of 4
3 of 6

Table 3: Results of People Looking Both Ways

Males
Females

Total # to Look
13
13

Total # Observed
21
19

Percent to Look
62%
68%

From my data I can begin to believe that college students can be somewhat careless, yet I
have no real evidence to prove this. A more thorough analysis could consist of the same

experiment with different age ranges, which could either prove or disprove that college students
are more careless then people of other ages. Yet for my experiment I was only curious in my
peers since we are all about the same age. I feel that studying a certain generations actions can
allow people to learn a lot about the mental states of not only the generation who is being
studied, but of future generations and the way they perceive the world. Different generations can
be as different as black and white; however, I believe that the way newer generations perceive
the world is highly influenced by how their ancestors chose to act. With the new studies of how
genetics can affect people and psychological problems, I feel that a study should be done on how
peoples psychological state is affected by social events, and how the psychological states of
future generations can be affected by what has happened in the past.
After thoroughly reviewing my results I can conclude that unlike my theory, not everyone
looks both ways before crossing the street. I was almost positive that everyone looked both ways
before they crossed the street, but my study shows that maybe that lesson wasnt stressed to
others as much as my parents stressed it to me. This disproving of my theory only reminds me
that it is very hard to make a general prediction of how and why people act. But a part of my
theory was proved! I did believe that during poor weather conditions people would generally be
more careful. My results show that during times of bad weather such as snow, a larger percent of
both genders looked both ways before crossing the road. It can also be concluded from my data
that females are more likely to look both ways before crossing a street than males. I am led to
believe that females are more worried about getting hit by a car than males. Even though a large
percentage of both males and females looked both ways before crossing the street, I feel as if this
result is disappointing. Shouldnt everyone be more careful about their decisions? I mean, life is
important right?

Another interesting observation I made was that during the night females would always
look both ways before crossing the street, and that females were not so likely to be walking alone
at night which could lead to a completely different psychological study! I believe that night time
is a time where females are more on guard and in result are more aware of what is going on
around them. But my observations have led me to even deeper questions and conclusions. I
stated before that it seems my generation is careless, yet I dont believe it is carelessness that
causes people to not take standard precautions. I believe that the generation I live in (especially
in the college years) feels invincible. It seems most college students do not consider the
consequences of their actions, and believe that nothing bad can ever happen to them. I believe
that my peers who did not look both ways before crossing the street expect cars to stop for them
no matter what. This assumption seems to be true most of the time, but risking my life by not
checking for traffic is not worth it in my mind.
But nonetheless, what I find very fascinating is the general rule of morality that people
have for each other. There is a morality in each one of us that stops us from running into
pedestrians, a general respect for others so it seems. But whether or not this morality actually
exists inside each one of us, one must realize that the only person we can fully rely on is
ourselves. I feel that my study goes deeper than just seeing if people were careful about crossing
a street. I believe that my study shows the expectations people have for each other as well as how
habits from child hood can continue throughout life. I really enjoy observing the natural actions
of others, and I feel that with my own understandings of others I can become a better person. Im
glad I could observe some actions of others and delve deeper into my own thoughts of why
people do the things they do.