Research
Project:
Experimental Psychology 366
Dr. Sherri Lantinga |Dordt College |
http://homepages.dordt.edu/~lantinga/expsych.htm
| Fall 2008
Purpose
& Inspiration:
In addition to developing
the collaborative, cognitive, and communication skills needed to conduct
and professionally present an original, ethical psychological experiment, you
will also develop your self-insight, learn to creatively deal with "stuckness" in a project,
manage your time, and synthesize and gather information to formulate and defend an
argument.
These are valuable life skills, no matter where you work or live in God's Kingdom. Now, we have a lot to accomplish in one semester, so
here are some things to watch out for:
-
You may feel
overwhelmed.
Our many deadlines should keep your work on track-not kill you-and you'll have
some scheduled consultation time with me. Please feel free to talk to me.
-
You
may feel frustrated with the many new and difficult concepts.
I want to help you learn, so please keep asking questions and
hang in there - some concepts take time to grasp.
-
You
will receive a lot of critical feedback. You
will certainly receive a lot of feedback: I will praise your accomplishments and
will raise the bar a little each time you turn in a draft to help you continue
learning. Try to learn something from the feedback and not take it personally -
you can't become a good sailor if you just sail on calm waters
(not that you want to be a sailor, but you get the point).
-
You
may be tempted to cheat - plagiarism, making up data, peeking on tests, etc.
Don't do it. As people of integrity before God, we
must avoid dishonesty. Talk to me and your classmates if you're feeling tempted
to cheat and we can help hold you accountable. As you know, because of the serious nature
of academic dishonesty, any such behavior will result in Fs on the particular assignment or test, and
could even result
in failing the class - which means you don't graduate. Don't do
it. Ask for help instead from your classmates, from me, from
residence life staff, a counselor, etc.
BUT-despite all these scary-sounding things-by the end of this course,
you will produce the best paper you have
ever written and you'll be very proud of yourself at the conference as you
reflect on how much you have grown both
personally and professionally. This is worth your effort! :)
Here goes!

Choosing a Partner (Authorship):
Most research,
like most of life, is done collaboratively. Therefore, you will work with a research partner. Choose your partner carefully (i.e., think about
your work style and personal standards for excellence), as no "divorces" are granted, both authors receive the
same grades for what's handed in, and some interpersonal conflict is virtually
inevitable. I am happy to give you suggestions for a suitable
research partner and help you work through conflicts.
Introduction Draft #1 (due September 10) (top)
See chapters 3 & 6 in your Martin
text for getting topic ideas and searching the literature; for more ideas, see abstracts of experiments
from previous semesters (see me for hard copies of the research papers).
Some other comments about this assignment:
- You may NOT do a study
involving personal space or studying with music as I am heartily sick of these
topics. (Sorry!)
- If you have an original
research idea, you
won't find literature on your exact topic - that's what makes your idea
original.
- Your experiment must
include two independent variables: at least one manipulated IV and another
IV that is either manipulated or
"natural" (e.g., gender, self-esteem). Keep this constraint in mind when considering a
topic, as you must be able to randomly and ethically assign participants to
the conditions of the manipulated IV.
- The topic/references
assignment is a first draft of your introduction and reference sections.
The more complete and detailed it is, the better position you are in when
you revise it for your introduction.
Requirements:
-
In about 3-5
(typed, double-spaced) paragraphs, make a supported argument that some human behavior/attitude (your
DV) may be influenced by some situational variable(s) (your IVs) and why that
would be the case (theories
to explain the proposed cause/effect relationship).
-
Use at least
4 properly-cited primary/scholarly references
to support your argument.
For this assignment only, you may reference sources for which you only have the
abstracts; your introduction and other sections require citations to references
for which you have read the entire article.
-
Include an
APA-style title page and references section.
-
Check your paper for
Common Writing Errors (CWE);
your returned paper may include marginal notes like "see CWE #7b."
-
Evaluation
criteria are shown below. Remember to keep your returned
Intro #1 draft to be turned in with your final paper - I like to see how
you've progressed over the semester.
Introduction #2 & Method
#1
(due Oct 1);
Peer Review
(due Oct 10 by 1pm):
(top)
After your topic has been approved,
read more literature to narrow your topic, develop a context for
your study, and get some ideas about your methodology (see also chapters 6 & 7 in
Martin and
Dordt's reference librarians for help).
Intro &
Method #1 Requirements:
-
Your introduction
is an extended/revised version of your topic & references paper
(not a totally new document). This version is normally 3-4 pages
long and includes a more developed argument than your
topic/references paper. Remember that the topic of your
introduction is normally the dependent variable, even if you
are personally more interested in the IV or the participant population
(e.g., kids). The introduction section ends with your hypothesis.
-
Pointers for your method section:
-
Start with
what other researchers on your topic have done - can you use the same tasks
or questionnaire that someone else used?
-
Decide who
will be your study participants (e.g., Dordt students, children, senior
citizens). Note that for each
level of the manipulated IV, you will need at least 15 participants (so, 3 levels of
an IV requires at least 45 participants; if you have a 2x3 design, you'll need
at least 2x3x15 = 90 participants).
-
Decide what materials or
confederates you will need to obtain or create (e.g., written instructions, props, videotapes);
if you'll use a confederate, consider how
to train him/her or how you'll keep multiple confederates as similar as possible
-
Decide
how and where you will collect
your data (e.g., in groups or individually; in the REC center or the mall or a
classroom)
- Write the Method section and
your hypothesis in the past tense (your final paper will be in past tense)
- Submit 1 hard copy and
e-mail to me of
your APA-style introduction, method #1 section, title and references page;
check the
CWE checklist for errors.
- Note that you will need at least 7 primary/scholarly references and at least 10 references
in total for your final paper (a maximum of two sources from the web).
- Not that you would do this, but papers
with any amount
of plagiarism (whether intended or not, whether a section draft or your
final paper) will receive a grade of F and the
incident will be reported in writing to the Student Life Committee chair (see the
student handbook
for more details).
The key to avoiding plagiarism is in making SURE you have
either
put someone's idea entirely into your own words (and you reference the
author and year of the source) OR use a direct quote and include all 4
required elements (quotation marks, author, year, and page number);
APA style strongly prefers the former option.
Evaluation
criteria are shown below. Keep your returned Introduction
& Method #1 draft and the peer reviews you receive to be turned in with
your final paper.
Peer Review: E-mail your review to me
by 1:00 on October 10; see Writing Peer Reviews
for more information and a sample review. Your review will be evaluated
based on your ability to identify conceptual and structural problems in the
paper and to make appropriate suggestions for improvement.
Brown
Bag Meeting
(October 15) (top)
"Brown Bags" are informal meetings where colleagues discuss their research over lunch (thus the strange
title for the meeting). Participants briefly present their work, and colleagues
ask questions or make suggestions for improvement. So, our Brown Bag gives
you feedback
from classmates and other
psychology profs. Each
research team will give a
4-5 minute verbal
overview of their research question,
theoretical and empirical context
for the study, and the proposed design and methodology. Your listeners will have
about 10 minutes to ask you questions or comment on your ideas; take notes! You can also
ask for advice about some aspect of your study; this is your time to get the
help you need.
Method
Section #2 (due October 22) (top)
The second draft of your
method section helps you consider a number of details needed in
planning a good experiment. Here are some pointers:
-
Control & Measurement: Carefully think about your control
group, controls for threats to validity, how the IV(s) will be
manipulated, and how you are operationally defining your variables
-
Participants: Decide who
will be your study participants (e.g., Dordt freshmen, pre-school children, senior
citizens) and how you will recruit them
-
Materials: Decide exactly
what materials you will need to obtain or develop (e.g., written instructions, props, videotapes)
and any dimensions or descriptions (e.g., 2-min videotape; 4 x 6m projected image,
3.5m x 5m room).
The
Psychology Department can cover reasonable, pre-approved costs for materials (submit receipts to
me).
-
Pilot study: Decide exactly how and
where you will collect your data; do a pilot study to help you think through
some details
-
Confederate(s): If you'll use a confederate, think through
his/her training; if using more than one, consider how to make them as comparable as possible.
Describe them in the materials sub-section.
-
Ethics: Make sure
that your methodology abides by ethical standards and consider how you'll
debrief and educate your participants
-
Writing: Write this
section in the past tense (this makes it easier to revise after
you've collected data)
Requirements:
-
One hard copy of your
APA-style
Method Section #2; please include your hypothesis at the top of the first page
and survey materials as an appendix
-
One hard copy of all other written experimental
materials: any instructions to participants, stimulus pictures,
questionnaires, filler tasks
-
One hard copy of a description of your debriefing
procedures - see
Post-data Collection, below, for some tips
-
Two hard copies of the Informed Consent
and Debriefing forms; one copy of each should be attached to your IRB cover form
-
Two hard copies of your completed (and signed) IRB cover form
Evaluation
criteria are shown below.
Remember to keep your returned Method #2 section and attachments to be turned in with your
final paper.
Recruiting Participants & Collecting
Data
(after Method #2 approved)
(top)
Once your
study is approved, it's time to collect data! Give me materials for photocopying 12+ hours in advance so you don't have to pay for
that; also submit receipts for pre-approved costs. Here
are some tips for recruiting participants and collecting your data.
-
To reserve a room on campus for
collecting data,
e-mail Bonnie Dekkers in Student Services at bdekkers@dordt.edu
(depending on what rooms or times you want, she may refer you to
Karen Klein in the Registrar's Office). Be very organized and professional, explaining
exactly when you need the room(s) for
conducting your Psychology 366 experiment.
-
To recruit
college student participants:
-
Create sign-up sheets
with your study title, the times and dates and location of your study, and any
limiting conditions (e.g., left-handed females only). Provide enough
spaces for the minimum number of students you need plus about 15% (the no-show
rate is about 15%, and it's far better to have too many than too few
participants). It's wise to have students include their e-mail address so you
can send them a reminder of the study time/place.
-
Talk to Profs. Sandbulte,
Clevering, and Christians about visiting their General, Social, Lifespan Psych classes to recruit participants.
-
Go to the
classes to describe your study and explain/pass around the
sign-up sheet (the prof can collect the sign-up sheet at the end of the
hour and leave it for you in the psych office pod). If you cannot
attend the classes in person, the professor may agree to deliver
your description for you -- but you'll probably get more interested subjects
and better show-up rates if you do this in person.
-
If you only
want a certain type of participant (e.g., left-handed men), say so both
verbally and on the sign-up sheet
- To recruit children:
- If you'll be conducting the study at a school or a day care
center, you need to contact the principal or director to discuss (a) the study,
(b) how
it will impact the children and the teachers/caregivers (e.g., amount of time
missed from class, disruption of classroom), and (c) the expected benefits to the
school or kids. It's worth asking a prof or a parent of young kids to help you
refine your presentation or to look over your informed consent
document from a parent's perspective.
- You must design an informed consent form
that both the parent and the child can sign. Take great
care to consider the concerns of protective parents and work hard to give as much
jargon-free information as you can about the study.
- Data collection tips:
- Expect that
you will have to throw out some data because something went really wrong
(e.g., your timer broke) or you needed to change your procedure (e.g.,
what you did with the first three participants totally flopped). A
pilot study is a truly excellent idea.
- Expect some participant
glitches (e.g., no-shows, people who come late, people who don't follow
instructions); plan how you will deal with these situations.
- If you're running a group of participants,
make sure that no one leaves before
the debriefing.
- Take digital pictures of your
confederates, stimulus materials, room or anything else that would help your
conference presentation audience understand your study; make sure to get
written permission if photographing any people - you'll use these pictures
in your conference presentations.
-
Post-data
collection & debriefing:
- Carefully debrief the participants; you can give an overview
similar to your Brown Bag presentation. Also ask them questions about whether
they guessed your hypothesis, what they thought during the study and
what might be improved or changed, etc. Ask them not to disclose
the purpose or details of your study until all of your data are collected
(give a date in mid-November) because that information would change future participants'
behaviors.
- Write an ID number on every participant's
data (questionnaire, survey packet, observations record, etc.).
- Take notes about how each experimental session went and which participants were
in each session (use ID numbers).
- Take notes
about any unexpected events or differences you observed between experimental
sessions. These notes will be invaluable to you when revising your procedure
section and writing the discussion section.
- Give your Informed Consent forms to
me ASAP - I will keep these on file for you.
Results
& Discussion Sections
(due Nov 18)
(top)
Congratulations
-- you've collected your data! Now your data must be coded, cleaned, analyzed,
graphed, and interpreted. After
checking the
CWE checklist, bring 3 hard copies of your APA-style Results
& Discussion sections, which should include a Figure Captions page and a
figure or two of the effect of your IV(s) on your DV. Two classmates and I will review
your section in
class and offer immediate feedback; evaluation criteria are shown
below.
Remember to keep your returned draft to be submitted with your final paper.
Full
Draft (due Nov 20);
Peer Reviews
(due
Nov 25)
(top)
Submit three hard copies
of your full APA-style
paper, including any questionnaire(s) you used as an Appendix. This draft is not a sloppy, slapped-together
paper, but the best work of which you are capable; double-check the
CWE checklist
to make sure you've avoided
common writing errors. Your paper must be well
written and should reflect the feedback you've received
so far on your various section drafts.
Remember to keep your returned full draft and peer reviews to be submitted
with your final paper.
Peer review: Your paper will be peer-reviewed and you will
individually peer-review another paper. Your peer
review will be evaluated based on your ability to identify both conceptual
and structural problems in the paper and to make appropriate suggestions
for improvement. E-mail your peer review to me.
Conference Program Information
(due Nov 20 by 5pm)
(top)
Email
me
the following information for inclusion in the research conference program:
- conference presentation type preference (Powerpoint or poster)
- author(s) names
- paper title
- paper abstract
- a 2-3 sentence biography of each researcher (major/minor, hometown,
future educational/career/family/world
travel plans)
Final
Paper (due
Friday, Dec 5 by 4pm)
(top)
In a folder or large envelope,
submit:
-
2 hard copies of
your full APA-style paper (one for my files and one to be graded
and returned to you)
-
printouts of your SPSS output
-
all section
drafts (topic & refs, intro & method #1 w/peer reviews, method
#2 and attachments, results & disc w/ peer reviews, full draft w/ peer reviews)
Evaluation criteria are shown below.
Here are a couple of
serious issues to consider:
- Your paper
will not be accepted if there are more than an average of 2 departures
from standard written English per page (spelling,
typos, punctuation, verb forms, verb tense, verb-subject agreement, etc.).
This is a formal, polished paper for which you should have no silly mistakes.
- Papers that include any amount of
plagiarism or are based on falsified data will receive a grade of F and will
be reported to the Student Life Committee. If you have a
particularly low grade in the course already, this may cause you to fail the
course and perhaps not graduate.
Conference
Presentation
(3:30-5pm on Dec 10 in the Eckardt Lounge) (top)
Dordt's
Psychology Department hosts a research conference each fall to give you an opportunity to professionally present
your work to the campus community. You are also required to present
your research at the annual meeting of the Siouxland Undergraduate Social
Sciences Research Conference (normally held the 3rd or 4th Thursday in
April). This requirement must be met or your course grade will be changed.
-
You may give
either a Powerpoint presentation (10-15 minutes) or a poster
presentation (a 4' x 6' visual display of your project that you stand next to
for 45 minutes)
-
You will give
a practice presentation
during class on December 9 (class may run late).
-
If you choose
to give a Powerpoint presentation, e-mail it to me ahead of time so
I have it on my laptop's desktop for easy access.
-
If you choose
to give a poster presentation, bring just a draft version (i.e., not printed
on blueprint paper); if the class finds problems, you will need
to re-do it before the conference.
- Your conference presentation will be evaluated by at least two psychologists other than
me.
Evaluation
criteria are shown below.
Evaluation Criteria
for Section Drafts
(top)
Introduction:
_____
Begins with appeal to larger audience with dependent variable as main topic
_____ Conceptual/theoretical orientation is
appropriate for variables of study )
_____ Research literature used to build logical argument for this study and
appropriate references are used to support argument
_____
Hypothesis is logically related to a "hole" in the literature
_____
Hypothesis indicates an experimental design using
2 independent variables
_____
Meets format requirements and is well-written (see
Common Writing Errors)
____ At least 4 primary/scholarly references used to support ideas
Method #1:
_____ (Anticipated)
participants are appropriate (in number and other demographic criteria) for
study design; motivation is clear
_____ Descriptions of materials (as well as rooms, confederates, etc.) are
clear, detailed, and well-organized
_____ Survey descriptions include number of items, content, response scales
and published validity/reliability information
_____ Clear descriptions of how the IV(s) will be manipulated and the DV(s)
measured
_____ Procedures follow chronologically from the participants' perspective
_____ Methodology is ethical and is appropriate for testing hypothesis
_____
Writing is clear, well-organized, easy to follow, includes appropriate
section headings
Additional criteria for
Method #2:
_____
Attachments: surveys/study materials as appendices; informed consent &
debriefing forms; completed IRB documents)
_____
Procedures indicate strong controls for threats to internal validity
_____ Study materials for participants are professional in appearance and
clearly relate to study goals
_____
Instructions to participants and debriefing procedures are clear, appropriate,
and reflect care for participants
Results & Discussion:
_____
Any data management issues are addressed
_____
Manipulation check analyses are clearly described
_____
Hypotheses are clearly re-stated
_____
Descriptive statistics properly reported
_____
Inferential analyses appropriately test hypothesis
_____
Exploratory analyses conducted appropriately
_____
Results are clearly written, interpretations are clearly supported by analyses
_____
Results are summarized and related back to hypothesis
_____
Both expected and unexpected
results are explained
_____
Conclusions and generalizations are appropriately supported by data
_____Study results are
clearly connected to rest of literature on topic (theory and research)
_____ Limitations of
study and future research directions are appropriate
Evaluation
Criteria for Final Paper
(top)
Format, style, and
incorporation of feedback
APA
style: headings, references, margins, one-sided printing, format of title
page, abstract, and figure captions, etc.
Mechanics:
spelling, grammar, punctuation, verb tense, etc.
Scientific
tone: professional, objective, formal
Writing
style: clear, well-organized, good transitions, concise
Attachments:
SPSS output, all drafts (topic, intro, intro#2/method #1, method #2, res/disc, full
draft), peer and professor
reviews. Penalty for each
one missing
Feedback:
prior conceptual and
structural feedback by instructor and peers was appropriately used to improve
work
Content: Quality of
research and quality of writing
Title:
includes major variables & suggests study design
Abstract:
appropriately summarizes all sections of paper
Introduction:
develops a logical, well-supported argument for this study
based on theory and empirical evidence; hypothesis follows and is clearly
stated
Method:
study appropriately tests hypothesis and is
well-designed in terms of ethical standards, operationalization of
variables, and control for extraneous variables
appropriate level of detail and
organization
questionnaire is well-designed
Results:
statistical analyses appropriately used to test hypothesis and explore data
interpretation of analyses is appropriate, clearly presented, and
results are related back to hypotheses
figures and tables are clear on their own and support
text
Discussion:
conclusions are supported by the data
and are put into theoretical and empirical context
limitations of study and future research directions are
appropriate
References
:
sources are scholarly, relevant to research question, and comprehensive
minimum 10 sources (at least 7 primary/scholarly sources;
maximum 2 web sources)
Conference
Presentation Evaluation Criteria
(top)
Study purpose, context, design/procedure, results
and conclusions are clear
Appropriate conclusions and applications
Presentation is
appropriate for a general, non-specialist audience
Visual aids
(slides, poster) are professional in appearance and content
Presenters have a
professional demeanor and public speaking skills
Presenters professionally handled audience questions
page last
revised August 2008