Reference no: EM133403733

Question: Berry, Mitteer, and Fournier (2015) examined potential gender differences in hand washing behavior. They examined 170 participants in public restrooms on a mid- size mid-Atlantic university campus. A research assistant (RA) sat in a commode stall between the hours of 10am and 4pm and unobtrusively observed bathroom patrons. A patron's hand washing event was defined as a patron (a) moving to a restroom sink, (b) turning on the water faucet and engaging in an act of hand washing or rinsing, (c) turning the water faucet off, and finally (d) operating the paper-towel dispenser. RAs were instructed to observe and hear both the patron's motion to a sink and the running of the faucet's water (respectively). At this time, the RAs turned on and turned off the stopwatch when the water faucet was heard to be turned on and off by the patron. Thus, a hand-washing event and its duration were defined by the patron's use of the restroom sink's faucet. Patron's use of the soap dispenser was not recorded because of the difficulty to both hear and see this action reliably. The results revealed no significant differences in percentage of hand washing between male and female patrons. However, males washed