IB Psychology (SL)Internal assessment Experimental research jette hannibal

Considerations in experimental research What is the aim of the experiment? What studies and theories are considered in your research? How do you plan to manipulate and measure variables? How will you select participants? Can the effect of confounding variables be minimized? - for example: How will you control for demand characteristics, order effects and participant variables? Which experimental design will you use? How will you deal with ethical issues? How will you analyze the data you collect? How will you discuss your findings? How will you report your experiment? How will you reference your sources? jette hannibal

Internal assessment Report according to IB guidelines Maximum of 2000 words (HL) or 1500 words (SL) HL/SL: a simple experiment Ethical considerations (informed consent) Use past tense Use 3rd person jette hannibal

Ethical considerations Non-human animals must not be used No deception No harm done to participants (physical or psychological) Briefing Debriefing Right to withdraw Confidentiality Informed consent Children: parental consent jette hannibal

Consent form Consent Form.   Consent Form. ·          I have been informed about the nature of the experiment ·          I understand that I have the right to withdraw from the experiment at any time, and that any information/data about me will remain confidential ·          My anonymity will be protected as my name will not be identifiable. ·          The experiment will be conducted so that I will not be demeaned in any way. ·          I will be debriefed at the end, and have the opportunity to find out the results. I give my informed consent to participating in this experiment NAME and date____________________________________________ Contact number_____________________________________________ jette hannibal

Title page Information about the student Example of a title: Name and number Subject and level Date of submission Word count Title Example of a title: An experiment to investigate the effect of imagery or rehearsal on recall jette hannibal

Abstract Right after the title page and before the table of contents. It is a summary of important information about the study including: The aim of the study Procedure Results of study Conclusion The abstract should not exceed 200 words – and is not included in the overall word count. jette hannibal

Table of contents Table of contents follows the abstract. All pages must be numbered. jette hannibal

Introduction: Background literature and justification of your own research General introduction to the psychological subject area under investigation Summary and analysis of key theories and previous research studies in the area including references, e.g. Stroop (1935) Theories and studies must be analysed in sufficient detail – especially the replicated study 2 - 3 studies (HL) or 1 study (SL) Rationale and justification of your experiment The aim (HL/SL) and hypotheses (HL) jette hannibal

Introduction (Coolican, 1994) jette hannibal

Aim of study Topic under investigation (e.g. Memory) and expected results What you intended to find out in the study (e.g. to investigate whether using imagery or rehearsal will result in higher recall of words) Aim introduces operationalised research hypothesis and null hypothesis (HL) Ex: The aim of the study was to investigate whether imagery or rehearsal resulted in the highest mean recall of words from a word-list. From the aim follow the experimental hypotheses (HL): H1: The use of imagery will result in higher mean recall of words recalled from a wordlist compared to the use of rehearsal Alternative formulation of experimental hypothesis: H1 Participants in the imagery condition will recall more words from a wordlist than participants in the rehearsal condition H0: There will be no difference in recall between the two conditions or any difference between the two conditions will be due to chance. jette hannibal

Research Hypotheses Clear and precise prediction of the expected outcome of the manipulation of the IV on the DV. Variables must be clearly operationalised (using concrete words or abstracts words) A One-tailed hypothesis Null hypothesis: predicts that changes are due to chance jette hannibal

Examples One-tailed: Participants given the office schema will recall a higher amount of office related objects than participants given no office schema. Null hypothesis: There will be no difference in the two situations or Higher recall of office related words will be due to chance. No Hypotheses in SL – only aim of study. jette hannibal

Method consists of 4 sections Design type and justification of design (repeated measures/independent design), controls, ethical considerations, identification of variables (IV and DV) Participants Relevant characteristics of sample, target population, sampling techniques (justified) Apparatus/Materials list of materials used, reference to copies in appendices Procedure Must be written in so much detail that it can be replicated. Reference to appendices for a copy of the material used. jette hannibal

Designs – consider strengths and limitations in each design Design must be justified (relate to why you choose a specific design and refer to strengths) Independent design: each participant participates in only one condition (random allocation of participants to conditions e.g. drawing names out of a hat decides who goes in which condition) Larger sample needed so more time consuming No order effect but problem with participant variables. This is controlled for by random allocation of participants to the experimental conditions. Repeated measures design: each participant participates in both conditions Easier to get a smaller sample Order effects but counter-balancing possible No participant variables Account of controls in the experiment (what you did in order to control for confounding variables) jette hannibal

IV and DV Must be operationalised and clear Must reflect aim and experimental hypothesis Stated at the end of the design section The IV in this experiment was whether participants used rehearsal or imagery The DV was amount of words correctly recalled from the wordlist jette hannibal

Selection of participants 20 participants in an IB experiment Justify your sampling method In principle good to have a represenative sample but nor really possible in IA. Ask the following questions: What is the target population? (the population you are interested in) What are relevant characteristics of your sample? your target population? Does your sample represent them? In IB exp.: Opportunity sample: you take what is available because it is the most convenient and easiest Easy and not time consuming (strenght) Not a representative sample (weakness) jette hannibal

Procedure Clear description of what you did and in what order Written in words (see samples) Must be so clear that it can be replicated by another researcher Refer to materials used in the experiment (and make a reference to an example of it in the appendices) Use past tense, the third person and the passive voice: The participants were asked to ....... jette hannibal

Results State your results in narrative and in the form of graphs, tables and statistical test Interpretation of descriptive statistics (e.g. mean, standard deviation + graph and table) Analysis using inferential statistics and justification for their use (HL only) – check which tests to use in decision chart. Specific tests related to design, level of measurement of data and the fact that you test a difference between two conditions. Graphs/tables should have appropriate titles and legend. No raw data in result section (must be in the appendices) jette hannibal

Discussion of results Discussion and interpretation of statistics Comparison of own results to the background literature and theoretical framework in the Introduction (only mention theories and studies that have been mentioned in the intro; don’t introduce new ones). Identification of limitations of own methodology Suggestions for modification and further research (link this to identified limitations) End with a conclusion (refer to aim or research hypothesis) jette hannibal

References Includes al work cited within the report and must be in a standardised format For example: Morrison, M. (1996) Psychology. Essays, practical & statistics. A guide for students. Singapore: Longman. For example: Loftus, E.F. and Palmer, J.C. (1974) “Reconstruction of automobile destruction: An example of the Interaction between language and memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 13, 584-589. Reference in report (footnote), e.g. Gross (2009), p. 6 Same in references (bibliography)Gross, R. (2009) Psychology. The Science of Mind and Behaviour. 5th ed. London:Hodder Arnold jette hannibal

Appendices Supplementary information One copy of the materials(s) used Copy of standardized instructions and debriefing notes Copy of informed consent paper (including parental consent if participants are children) Raw data Calculation of statistics jette hannibal

Check list Use check list paper to see if your report lives up to the assessment criteria. Check the assessment criteria also jette hannibal