The Wheelie Chair Experiment

Dempsey Emery | The Tiger Times

When you enter the writing lab—either for a class or just for fun—where do you sit? Do you sit in the front, or the back? Maybe in that middle row? More importantly, do you sit in a wheelie chair? This may seem like a silly question, but it’s harder to answer than you think. After a very interesting experiment, I came up with some very interesting results.

Once when I was in the lab, I found that all the wheelie chairs, especially the good, plush ones, were all in the back row. I assumed this was a very commonly occupied spot, and so I decided to conduct an experiment. I moved all the wheelie chairs to the first four rows, leaving the fifth and sixth rows full of normal chairs. The experiment would determine if those who sat in the back row would move to the wheelie chairs, move the wheelie chairs to them, or not move anything at all.

For the first two days of the experiment, no chairs were moved. However, by the third day, two chairs were moved from the farthest fourth row two the sixth row. The next day, two more chairs moved from the same row to the closest fifth row. This arrangement stayed the same for several weeks with very few changes. Only one chair was taken from the first row throughout the entire experiment, which was about a month in length.

Still curious about what really was the most common motive as far as lab arrangement goes, I polled some classes that came in to work. Surprisingly, a very few number said they chose the spot for the chair, a handful said they just liked the location, but the majority had other reasons. The most common was either because it was an open seat, or that it was by a friend.

While I was taking the poll, however, I got two very interesting quotes from some students about the wheelie chairs in the room. The first was from Alisa Latimer, who said, “I don’t move to the wheelie chair, I move the wheelie chair to me.” Many people agreed with this comment. However, another student had a very different view. This student is Jackie Barker. Jackie Barker stated, “I sit in the chair I sit in because it’s the best wheelie chair. Why wouldn’t you sit in the best wheelie chair? It doesn’t make any sense to move it- it’s just a waste of time. I’m too lazy to move it.”

In conclusion- well, to be honest, I got nearly nothing out of this experiment. The school is so diverse, that I saw a little bit of everything. I saw people moving chairs to them, I saw people moving to the chairs in the front, I saw people just sit with their friends. Everyone here at this school has different views, preferences, likes and dislikes. We are all individuals, and that is what makes this school special.

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Dempsey Emery

Dempsey Emery loves to write. Her dream is to become a well known, adored author. She also has interest in journalism, and had been writing stories and creating her own newspapers since age four. When not trying to improve her writing, she is caring for children or trying to make people smile.