On Fri, 5 Jan 2001, Fred Foldvary wrote:
> > A friend of mine noticed that men tend to carry rather large
> > amounts of change in their pockets compare to women.
>
> It seems to me we need more data to warrant the premise, than just "a
> friend of mine noticed".
And it seems to me much of the best research begins with people
who notice an idiosyncratic (or not?) behavior of their own, then think
to themselves, 'well, if I feel this way, I bet there are others who also
do...,' and then begin looking to confirm or deny their hypothesis ---
from which a sound premise emerges.
But the interesting part of Fred's comment is about methodology:
Do we need more data than just 'a friend of mine noticed?'
Well -- certainly not for armchair. But what about 'real'
research? Isn't it the case that almost all research begins with little
more than noticing a slight peculiarity? Isn't the skill of armchair in
being able to detect those slight textures that barely tickled your
notice, and making them explicit questions?
I put an example of how a person might be quite sure that women
carry less change than men, below.
-- Kirez
So I've made the same observation (women carry less in their
pockets), but without observing I would have guessed the same, and with
confidence, because I know so well my own reasons for despising change and
despising stuff in my pockets: part vanity -- keep the lines (think of a
yacht) smooth and clean; part utility -- if you carry a lot of little
stuff with you (make up, or in my case diabetic supplies) you develop a
strong preference for purses, handbooks, etc; and still more vanity --
dislike that jangling sound, or spilling out when you sit, etc. And I know
that all these are true of women, and less true of men; but only because
I'm aware of myself being idiosyncratic in that way: in these and dozens
of related behaviors I fit the profile of a woman rather than a man. The
fact that this self-knowledge was assuredly confirmed by observing the
rest of the world, was just gravy. You can start out knowing the truth of
the matter with very little data.
Simply put, I've been thinking for years how I wish they would do
away with change altogether because I hate the stuff, and it was a pretty
simple step to observe the personality types of others who feel the same
way -- and that more women felt that way than men.
What's interesting is how bums make a good deal of money by
asking people for their change, outside convenience stores. Now, you
might think that more women are prone to giving their change to the bums
than men. But I don't think it's true, and in this case I'd like some
more, hard data to decide the matter. But my guess is that the breakdown
is as high as 80% men and 20% women, giving money to bums.
