Entrepreneurial Bum Seeks Advice!

[KickAssClown]

I am going to go ahead and perform a socialogical experiment. Here's the setup.

I am going to make a sandwhich board sign that explains my situation, and that asks for charity, alms, donations.

Similar in concept to the signs that some bums use that is to the effect of:
"Need money for booze and cigarettes. Hey, at least I'm not lying!"

Except my sign will be asking for money to make bills, and feed myself. Complete with the optimal amount of cash to make Rent, PG&E, Phone, and Food.

I will write on it "This is a socialogical experiment." with an explanation of the details of my situation. Such as my aims. Why I don't have a job, and why I am not at school, or why I am going to school, when and if I am, and what I am going to do with the education I am receiving.

It will show the data collected from the previous days. The amount I've made towards paying the months bills, and the total ammount of money I've made in performing the experiment.

Preferably, I would like to collect statistics on the people who donate. Gender, ammount donated, age, and wheather they are home owners, renters, or other.

I would situate myself downtown with books and other such materials while I work on my various projects, with a card table, a collection container, and the sign next to me.

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to conduct this experiment. Perhaps items that I have missed, or angles I have not concidered here. Also, my statistics is a little rusty, same for my demographics. Anyone have anything on those subjects?

[Buffy]

I went to Berkeley and have lived in or near it for, well, a very long time.

So. I know street "denizens."

A couple of my favorites:

The $5 lady: She would always ask for $5. If you offered her spare change or a dollar, she would *throw* it at you and walk away. Of course other street folk would lurk near her so they could pick up these "scraps".

The Orange Guy: He dressed in all orange, parka and backpack. Somewhere, he grew orange seedlings, in little pint containers (kept in his back pack as he hung out near Sproul Plaza) and give them to who ever gave him either money or--much prefered--an orange.

The Naked Guy: Usually arrested before long for indecency (a night in jail only in liberal Berkeley), he wasn't a street person, he was a student with an agenda. Having an agenda is an interesting thing, and the reason I mention the Naked Guy--who actually did suffer from mental illness later and recently died under suspicious circumstances in police custody--wore his agenda on his, er, non-existent sleeve. You might want to think about spicing up your agenda to make it more controversial.

Pink Cloud: Pink was also not a street person (and yes, his drivers license actually said "Pink Cloud"), because he had talked one of the student coops (the one I lived in freshman year) into letting him live there and have a space to run his paper recycling business (too complicated to go into, but he actually made money). Pink was an old hippie, but he did not use drugs and he was an unabashed entrepreneur, and as a result he got *respect* from virtually everyone (except for the fact that he did not suffer fools gladly and let them have it with his droll, rapier like wit).

Those are just a few off the top of my head, but that might get you thinking...

Will create ad campaigns for food,
Buffy

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by KickAssClown

I am going to go ahead and perform a socialogical experiment. ... I am going to make a sandwhich board sign that explains my situation, and that asks for charity, alms, donations... my sign will be asking for money to make bills, and feed myself. ... It will say on it "This is a socialogical experiment." and explain the details of my situation. Such as my aims. ... It will show the data collected from the previous days. The ammount I've made towards paying the months bills, and the total ammount of money I've made in performing the experiment.

Sociologically speaking, it's interesting and a cool idea (I personally like the stats part...), but most people won't read your board all the way through if it's too long and has too much data. Heck, I would be led to believe that a significant portion of the groups who will have visibility to your board won't know what sociological means.

Say something like:
EXPERIMENT:

I'm out of work. Here's why (although, the why part is a bit tricky and VERY subjective).

Below are my current stats (as of last night's tally):
$ collected
# people who gave
# days trying

Maybe average donation based on that would be interesting???

Preferably I would like to collect statistics on the people who donate. Gender, ammount donated, age, and wheather they are home owners, renters, or other.

That's too much, and people won't be willing to share personal data. To keep your numbers going, only measure things that you can obtain w/o asking... i.e. genders and approximate ages (ranges like <18, 18 - 30, 30 - 45, >45...). If you try collecting things like renters, owners, etc., you may be lucky enought to have 5% of your participants share, but that's not enough and you won't be able to draw any valid conclusions from it.

Also, from a morality standpoint (subjective too, I know), you have to realize that you are likely to convince others that this mooching off others thing is okay... Heck, it's scientific... Not such a positive thing.

Overall though, keep the setup as simple as possible (this will also help control for extraneous variables, in addition to making your life better as the researcher). You might even setup a follow-up experiment in like 2 or 3 months, keeping EVERYTHING the same, except the story of why you're doing it, see how that effects the collection total...

[sebbysteiny]

What exactly is your experiment trying to prove / disprove?

[Zythryn]

Originally Posted by sebbysteiny

What exactly is your experiment trying to prove / disprove?

Sebby, it isn't always about trying to prove something.
I can't speak for KAC, however, many experiments are done for curiosity's sake.

I wonder what type of people are likely to donate?
I can get a better idea by conducting this type of experiment.

That type of thing. Many great discoveries were made because people were curious; what would happen if...

KAC, I love the idea. I agree with InfiniteNow, try to keep the message on the sign short.

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by Zythryn

I wonder what type of people are likely to donate?

Most commonly, the folks that feel guilty about having money or a home or whatever and want to balance the "karmic force", but that's a bit off topic.

[pgrmdave]

What will the data tell you, though? It seems to me that there are too many variables to accurately draw any conclusions from such an experiment.

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by pgrmdave

What will the data tell you, though? It seems to me that there are too many variables to accurately draw any conclusions from such an experiment.

Dave's exactly right. You should split the data into like 4 or 5 different studies. Start off very basic, and build from that...

[sebbysteiny]

Originally Posted by Zythryn

Sebby, it isn't always about trying to prove something.
I can't speak for KAC, however, many experiments are done for curiosity's sake.

I wonder what type of people are likely to donate?
I can get a better idea by conducting this type of experiment.

That type of thing. Many great discoveries were made because people were curious; what would happen if...

KAC, I love the idea. I agree with InfiniteNow, try to keep the message on the sign short.

KAC, wants to know how to suggest improvements. I want to know what exactly is being looked for. It's not a rude question or an attack, simply a request for further information.

But Pgrmdave gets exactly what I'm talking about.

[pgrmdave]

Here are some potential experiments along the same idea that might make some more sense to me:

1 - do the same thing BUT - use two locations, one in front of 'nicer' businesses and one in front of not-so-nice businesses (not slums, just not expensive).

2 - do the same thing BUT - use two very similar locations in terms of number of people, demographics of people, locations look/feel similar but change the message on your board

3 - do the same thing BUT - instead of checking the people records the time/date of the handouts - see if there are best times/days of the week/month to beg for money.

I'm sure there are others but those were the first three to come to mind.