The study conducted on personal invasion in the lavatory is a correlational study design. Two variable that is micturition and delay on the onset of urination are affected by the presence of an adjacent person in the lavatory. The study is based on the hypothesis that personal space invasions produce arousal as investigated in a field experiment. The study concluded that interpersonal distance increase delay of onset of micturition and decreased the perseverance to micturition. The dependent variable was time taken when urine begins flowing while the independent variable was the presence or absence of another individual at the adjacent urinal. The dependent variable is a variable that depends on other factors and in this case time taken for urine to begin flowing depended on whether there was a personal adjacent in the urinal (Ary, 2018) .
The method applied random sampling of 60 subjects who were assigned to one of the three levels of interpersonal distance. There was no assignment of subjects into groups, and every individual that came into the lavatory was random. Also, the conditions were randomly put in place and prepared before the subject went into the lavatory. The subjects were required to use the leftmost urinal considering the interpersonal distance. Confederate seeming to urinate was placed in the middle urinal and washing sign, water and sponge in the rightmost urinal. 16 to 18 inches was the distance left between the Confederate and the subject (Middlemist, 1976) . In the rightmost urinal, the confederate stood in the moderate distance condition while the wash signs were placed in the middle urinal. The distance was 52 to 54 inches between the subject and the confederate. The control experiment did not have a confederate and middle and right urinal had wash sign, water, and sponge.
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The observer used visual cues and applied periscopic prism embedded in a stack of the book which made direct visual of the stream of urine. The observer started two stopwatches once a subject entered the urinal and stopped one when urination began and stopped the other when urination was terminated to calculate the delay of onset and micturition persistence (Middlemist, 1976) .
The findings were tested using multivariate analysis of variance to measure how the two micturition were affected by the interpersonal distance. Close distance produced different responses as compares to moderate distance. Similarly, confederate present produced different results from absent confederate condition. Univariate results indicated delay from a mean of 4.9 seconds in control condition, 6.2 sec in the moderate distance, 8.4 sec in close distance. Priori test indicated that close distance caused more delayed time with confederate present had more delays than confederate absent. Micturition persistence mean was 24.8 sec in control condition, 23.4 in the moderate distance, and 17.4 in close distance. Closer distance led to increase in micturition delay and decrease in micturition persistence (Middlemist, 1976) .
Critique
The reliability and validity of the study can be challenged by the consistency and accuracy of the results. Reliability means consistency and validity means that the test measures what its intended to measure. The results obtained may not show replicability if repeated and I think more experiments should have been done to come into conclusion. Although stopwatches measures time accurately possible error might occur in multiple micturition when more than one person was in the lavatory.
The researcher did not put into consideration the ethical standards in the study. The observer hiding on the stall and using periscopic prism was unethical for the subjects who were not even aware of the experiment. The use of periscopic prism meant interference with the subject’s privacy (Altman, 1976) . Also, it is unethical to study privacy life of people without their informed consent making the study unethical.
The method used in this research is better compared to other methods where the subjects are aware of the experiment. Subjects unaware, make the study generate the normal situation that occurs when people are close to each other in the lavatory (Middlemist, 1976) . Contrary, when other methods like questionnaire are used people opinions rule out without actual evidence.
There are methodological problems in the study since the subjects can see changes I the lavatory that was not there before. The presence of confederate standing nearly to the subjects while urinating might create a weird environment which affects sensory to bladder contraction to release urine (Middlemist, 1976) . Similarly, the presence of a stack of books in the lavatory has a psychological effect on the subject since that is not normal in the lavatory. The above factors can result in a further delay of micturition.
The correlational study investigates how the presence of an adjacent person in the lavatory cause delayed micturition and urination delay. The dependent variable in the study was time, and the independent variable was the adjacent person in the lavatory. The time difference was collected from 60 subjects under different distances in the lavatory to identify the onset of micturition. Multivariate analysis, univariate analysis, and Micturition persistence were the statistical tools used in measuring onset time. Micturition delay was high in close distance according to findings. The critique of the study includes; lack of reliability and validity, unethical study, and methodological problems in the lavatory although the method used proved more practical.
References
Altman, I. (1976). A conceptual analysis. Environment and behavior , 8 (1), 7-29.
Ary, D., Jacobs, L. C., Irvine, C. K. S., & Walker, D. (2018). Introduction to research in education . Cengage Learning.
Middlemist, R. D., Knowles, E. S., & Matter, C. F. (1976). Personal space invasions in the lavatory: suggestive evidence for arousal. Journal of personality and social psychology , 33 (5), 541.
