Posted: December 11th, 2014

Research Proposal and Sub-Assignments

Research Proposal and Sub-Assignments
Your research proposal is your opportunity to investigate an area in psychology of interest to you.  Our field continually is advanced by “new blood” with novel ideas and a fresh perspective on previous work. So just because you’ll be reading articles by famous psychologists does not mean that you cannot come up with a new twist on their ideas or a new approach to an area.
You will be working on your research proposal throughout the semester.  The ultimate goal is for each of you to produce a paper that reviews relevant research, discusses possible omissions in the current research and proposes a feasible, ethical, experimental study to address your concerns.  You will accomplish this goal in the stages outlined below.  Each sub-assignment is designed not to hold your hand, but rather to ensure that you are each headed in the right direction.  Sub-assignments 3, 4 and 5 are graded and will combine to produce a significant portion of your final grade.
Please try to discuss with me any questions or concerns you have about your proposal earlier rather than later. I can help you narrow (or broaden) your topic area, organize articles for your introduction, and determine what problems you might have in methodology much more easily if the assignment is not due the next class period.
Below is a list of the sub-assignments and their due dates.
Sub-assignment 1 (due September 11):  Potential area of interest
Hand in a longish paragraph (half page or so) discussing an area of interest in psychology that you think you would like to explore this semester.  You will probably find it helpful to review your text and notes from your General Psychology classes to refresh your memory about the topics that you found particularly interesting.    Read sub-assignment #3 below when considering your topic.  Think about the fact that ultimately you need to design a study that tests specific hypotheses.  Note that I am requiring you to propose an experimental study so you might find some topics easier than others to work with under such limitations.

Sub-assignment 2 (due September 26):  Critique of key article and central references. You should have started to narrow down your area of interest and using the library resources, found  several references. For this assignment you must:
1.    Refresh my memory of your topic area in a few sentences.   It is likely that some of you will have changed topics after reading my comments on your first sub-assignment.
2.    Pick one article that you think will be central to your paper.  In less than a page, summarize the article and suggest a way in which the research could be improved.
3.    Copy the abstract of the article that you summarize and include it.
4.    Turn in a reference list of 4-5 references that you think you will use.  Remember that you need to have at least 2 articles from the list of “Major Journals in Psychology” in Chapter 2 of your textbook.  This helps ensure the quality of the references that you are using.  Perfect APA style is expected for your reference list.

Note on references: I have expressed my concern that the ease with which students can now click on many abstracts in the various library databases to obtain the full text article prevents students from considering articles for their paper that are NOT available in full text form.  I encourage you to consider references that are obtained in a way other than through full text articles available online. You can copy articles from journals in the library, order them through inter-library loan, or drive to another library that carries the journal.

Sub-assignment 3 (due October 21):  Introduction (5-6 pages)
This will probably be the most challenging sub-assignment for you.  The introduction sets up the rest of your proposal.  The introduction section of your paper should use any headings or sections that you think you will use in your introduction.  Remember the hourglass structure to a research paper. Organize the literature review to create a logical flow for your argument. You should start with the theory that is the background for your study.  General theory should lead to articles that are more specific and closer to what you intend to propose.  Some references might be briefly mentioned while others might require a more detailed summary.  You do not need to use the same format for reporting on every article (e.g. hypothesis, IV, DV and results). If an article is key to your procedure, you will need to discuss it (including the procedure) in some detail.  An article that helps you demonstrate the theoretical background of the paper could be explained in less detail. Remember this background theory will eventually support the hypotheses for your proposed study.

This sub-assignment should end with your hypotheses.   Keep in mind that hypotheses should be specific and testable and that they are phrased in terms of the key variables in your study.   You need to know your IV’s and DV’s to state your hypotheses so you will need to have an idea about how you plan to design your study.

You MUST include an updated reference list with this sub-assignment.

Sub-assignment 4 (due November 6):  Hypotheses and methodology (3-4 pages)
Outline your methodology being sure to indicate your hypotheses (which will be part of your introduction in your final proposal), and your independent and dependent variables.  You should include detailed participants, materials and procedure sections

You MUST propose an experimental study. Although excellent non-experimental research is done, I don’t want you to propose handing out a survey to a bunch of people and analyzing the results.  In this class you can propose a more complicated study without worrying about having to implement it.  You must, then, have at least 1 IV that is manipulated in your proposed study.
Research Proposal (due December 9): The entire APA style paper (10-13 pages)
This final version should incorporate my suggestions from your graded sub-assignments 3 and 4. You also need to add a title page, an abstract, a complete reference list, and a brief discussion. Your discussion section can assume that your results supported your hypotheses; it should, therefore, have a paragraph summarizing the study and a paragraph suggesting improvements and future research (remember this is where the hourglass widens out again).

Research Proposal Sub-Assignment #4 Overview
Hypotheses and Methods Section

This overview outlines my expectations for sub-assignment #4 of your research proposal.  It is
due November 6th.
Overview of Hypotheses and methodology (3-4 pages)
You should begin with the last paragraph of your Introduction where you introduce your research design and state your  hypotheses and your independent and dependent variables.  You will then write your Method section.
You MUST propose a study with at least one experimental IV.  Although excellent non-experimental research is done, I don’t want you to propose handing out a survey to a bunch of people and analyzing the results.  In this class you can propose a more complicated study without worrying about having to implement it.  You must, then, have at least 1 IV that is manipulated in your proposed study.

Do NOT turn in your entire Introduction section again.  It is OK that for this assignment you are going to provide hypotheses without prior research to support them.  The focus of this assignment is your hypotheses and your methodology.  Begin with the last paragraph or so of your introduction and clearly state your hypotheses.  Remember what we learned about hypotheses – they must be specific and testable.  You should clearly state how you expect the DV to differ for the levels of your IV.  Also remember that you must have a manipulated IV.  If you have more than one IV, you must propose what you expect in terms of main effects and/or an interaction.

For your Methods section, you must have at least 2 sections – participants and procedure.  You probably will need an additional section for materials.  Use your APA publication manual as a guide for what to include.  Use other studies you have read for examples of how much detail to use.  Remember that another researcher should be able to replicate your study after reading your procedure section.  Things to keep in mind when designing your study:

•    What are your measures – did you make them up (must include in appendix) or do they already exist (must give reference)?
•    Are your measures reliable and valid?  Do you have a way to verify that they are?
•    Who are your participants?  Where will they come from and what specific information about them do we need to know because it is relevant to your hypothesis (age, sex, level of depression, etc.)?
•    Do you need a cover story and if so, what is it?
•    Do you have a manipulation check?
•    Is your design independent groups, repeated measures or mixed?  If any IV’s are repeated measures, are you using complete counterbalancing?
•    Have you done everything you can to prevent participant expectation problems?  What about experimenter bias?
•    Have you covered ethics – informed consent, debriefing, …
•    Have you provided enough specifics about your procedure that it could be replicated?
•    Have you considered all of the wording issues we discussed for any survey questions?

Hopefully you will find this the “fun” part of your proposal.  You have lots of room to be creative and make it interesting.  Be certain that in your creativity, though, you are paying attention to all of the details we have spent the semester learning that ensure you are proposing a quality research project.
GRADING RUBRIC – Proposal Method Section        NAME

Aspect Graded    Possible Points    Earned Points
MECHANICS
•    Grammar / Spelling / Complete Sentences    15
•    Clarity of Writing / Organization / Transitions    15
•    Appropriate APA Style – headings, citations, writing, …    5

OVERVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS
•    Hypothesis is well articulated in terms of both the IV’s and DV – stated as a specific and testable proposition including a manipulated IV    10

METHOD
•    Participants – who, how many, recruitment approach, & appropriate (to your hypothesis) demographic information     10
•    Materials – equipment & survey description, where did measures come from, information on reliability or validity if appropriate    5
•    Procedure – adequate detail to allow replication, have discussed ethics, design, cover story, manipulation check, potential for bias, and other issues relevant to your design    40

TOTAL POINTS    100
Points lost for lateness (5 points per calendar day late)
GRADE

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