Free Money

Strategy: 

For this exercise I decided to complete it outside an apartment complex close to where I am currently living and in the new expansion of the Reitz Union on campus. I approached strangers who were on their phones or about to get into their cars to go somewhere. The purpose of the strategy for who I picked was to get a sense of what it is like to actually interrupt customers in order to deliver a sales pitch. To get the conversation started I would say "Excuse me, can I ask you a question?" and when they would say "yes" or "sure" I would ask them them a question based off of a current event or general world knowledge. I asked "Can you tell me which candidate recently dropped out of the race for President of the United States?" or "Is the moon a star, satellite, comet, or planet?" I gave the dollar away to those who answered the question correctly. I did this because I felt like if I just offered a dollar to strangers, people might find it suspicious or weird. However, everyone likes being right and winning. This way is more effective and encourages people to stay updated in today's world and know basic facts. When I began this exercise, I believed I would be able to give out 3 dollars. 

Results: 

I found this exercise very interesting but more difficult than most others I have completed in this course. Giving away the dollar was just about as hard as I expected it to be because people were hesitant to take their time to talk to a stranger. My predictions were more or less correct but not exact. Four out of the five students answered the questions correctly; I predicted three would answer correctly. The assumptions I made about the people I would approach were that they would be intellectual and up to date on current events, and I was correct.