A Solution:
"Participants posed for a photograph, for which they would receive $3.00.facial photographs were taken of each participant from a distance of 3 feet.Participants were not warned in advance about being photographed so that they would not go our of their way to dress up or primp, thereby yielding a different look from their usual appearance.  Physical attractiveness was rated by 57 students (27 men and 30 women) at a different university in the same part of the country.  Because there were too many slides to be judged in a single session, the slides were randomly split into two sets.  Each slide was rated by approximately half of the judges in sessions lasting approximately 50 minutes.  To familiarize raters with the range of photographs, judges were first shown the entire set of slides to be rated.  Actual ratings followed, with raters having 25 seconds to rate each slide.  No communication was permitted during the session.  Slides were grouped by sex, with half the judges seeing the male slides first and the other half seeing the female slides first.  Two different random orders were used within each set.  Judges were instructed to use their own standards of attractiveness and to rate slides of each target participant on a 1 (very unattractive) to 15 (very attractive) scale.  In the analyses reported later in this article, the average rating of each slide was used.  These averages were normally distributed and ranged from 2.09 to 12.16, with a mean of 6.96 (SD = 2.05)."

Your Opinions:

1. The attractiveness of each participant was rated by about half the 57 judges, and their average rating was used in the analysis.  Does it seem worthwhile to use such a large number of judges?   Why or why not?
2. Speculate on why students at a different university were used as judges and why half the judges were shown the male slides first.
3. What is your overall opinion on the measurement procedure?  Is there anything you would change? 

¹Source/Reference:  Tidwell, M.O., Reis, H.T., & Shaver, P.R. (1996).  Attachment, attractiveness, and social interaction:  A diary study.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 729-745.  Copyright © 1996 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.

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