Drunk and Alone in a K‐Mart Parking Lot: The Pedagogy of Simulations and Contemporary Attitudes Toward Drinking and Driving

Abstract

This paper describes the use of active learning strategies to teach research methods in a criminal justice course. We investigated the public’s response to a drunk asking for help unlocking a car door to drive home. Students learned the methodology of simulations and then participated in creating a psychological and social state of drinking and acting drunk while asking for help in unlocking their car door. We review the literature on active learning and present an overview of DUI laws. We then describe our methodology of teaching and simulations. The simulation produced 112 incidences of a student drunk asking for help unlocking their car door. One‐third (35.7%) of the subjects who said they thought the student was drunk helped him unlock the car door, compared with 62% 25 years earlier (Formby & Smykla, 1984, Journal of Police Science and Administration, 12, 379–384). We conclude with findings and discuss the use of simulations as a pedagogical tool.

Notes

1. The “drunks” were instructed to approach only individuals who appeared to be age 21 and older. Students were put through training to learn to approximate the age of passers‐by and were told to err on the side of caution if an individual could be under the age of 21.