Experimental Psychology PSY 433 Chapter 5 Research Reports

Exam on Wednesday Based on the textbook: Covers all chapters and pages noted on syllabus (Ch 1-4 plus Appendix A & pgs noted from Ch 8) No questions from labs No questions on APA format details Powerpoints provide an outline of what I considered important enough to discuss in class – not a substitute for reading the book. No scantron needed

Required for Your Project Proposal – a description of the project before it is done: Written in future tense Include Title Page, Introduction, Methods, References Final report – due at end of quarter, will include all parts, written in past tense. Must include at least 1 figure and 1 table Use of APA format is 50% of your grade Write it as if you are submitting a paper for publication, not as a student completing an assignment Each student must write an individual proposal and final report – don’t plagiarize each other. OK to share resources but not writing

Overview of the Process Science requires communication of results to: Other scientists. The general public. Ways of communicating results: Oral presentations at conferences – 20 min. Posters at conferences. Peer-reviewed journals. The media – books, TV, news outlets. Only after communication to scientific community.

Peer Reviewed Journals Published by Academic Publishers, frequently in association with psychological organizations. An editor selects relevant experts to review each submission. Reviewers critique submissions, suggest changes, recommend publication or not. Articles do not need to be perfect to be published – just scientifically sound and worth reading.

APA Format Speeds up literature searches for those doing research by placing information in standard places within a text. Prevents errors by the publisher because less interpretation must be made of the author’s intentions. Authors do not need to learn a new format for each journal they wish to submit to.

Parts of the Article Title page Abstract Text: References Introduction Methods Results Discussion References Appendix, Tables and Figures

Structure of the Report Reports go from theory to the experimental model and back to theory again. Theory – Introduction Experimental Model – Methods & Results Theory – Discussion Theory may be discussed in the present tense but the experiment (model) is always described in the past tense.

Contents of Proposal Required for the assignment due 11/4: Title Page Introduction Methods (written in future tense) References Proposals to granting agencies also include: Bios of the researchers Budgets and performance timetables Lots of forms

Goals of a Research Proposal Convince the reader that the question is important and needs to be explored. Convince the reader that you are qualified to do the research (not part of the class project). Describe what research has occurred previously and what the competing theories are. Describe your plan for research in detail. Demonstrate that you have the resources to carry out the plan.

Title Page Detachable for anonymous review. Running head and title serve different purposes: Title will appear at top of article when printed. Running head will appear at top of each page when printed. List authors in order of contribution, with affiliations – your group members names should go on your paper. Your name goes first, so I know who wrote the paper.

Introduction Clearly state the research question and its importance to society or to theory. Describe what has already been done to address this question: Review current theories and state the theory you hold. Review work done by others in the literature. In the last paragraph, explain how the question will be addressed and make a prediction about the results.

Methods This section describes the experimental model that will test the theory’s prediction. Provide an introductory description of the study (overview). Describe IV, DV, and design. Describe the “rationale” for the experiment. Provide sufficient detail about participants, apparatus, materials, procedure, to permit someone to replicate your study. Include a figure showing stimuli, setup or apparatus.

References Intended to enable others to find the articles you used as sources. Use of APA format prevents misunderstandings about dates, page numbers, authorship, etc. PsycInfo automatically downloads cites in APA format. New media (e.g., web pages, email, DVDs) are described in the newest APA Manual revision (6th Edition). Check sources cited in text to be sure they are listed in refs and check refs to be sure every reference is mentioned in text.

Final Report A good proposal is the foundation of your final report – saves work later on. Also used for: IRB protocol Conference abstracts Faculty reports and grant progress reports Web pages and job hunting Revised to produce the APA format final report at the end of the project.

What is Plagiarism? http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml#plagiarized

Samples from Past Student Papers The participants will report to a specified lab room in building 5. Participants will be greeted and asked to quietly take a seat at a computer station. Subjects will report to a specified lab room in building 5. Upon entering the lab subjects will be greeted and asked to quietly take a seat. This is Unacceptable

Another Unacceptable Example Using a bivalent within-subjects design, we will be measuring the affect… Using a bivalent within-subjects design, we will measure the participant’s correct responses. We will be using a bivalent within-subjects design measuring both the affects of the sex… Using a bivalent design, the correct responses of the participants will be measured…

One More Unacceptable Example Data was analyzed using SPSS a statistics software program produced by IBM. A 0.05 significance level was used. Information was collected from the participants’ responses and was evaluated at the .05 level of significance using SPSS known as a statistical software developed by IBM. One student clearly used a group member’s paper as a template for writing the Results.