Psych 231: Research Methods in Psychology Making presentations Psych 231: Research Methods in Psychology

Don’t forget: Class experiment papers are due in class this Wednesday of this week No formal lab meetings this week. Use the time to meet and work on your group project posters Announcements

Presenting your research Posters Talks Papers Presentations

Why do presentations? To present your work/theory/research Get feedback It is an opportunity for peers to ask you questions about your work For you to ask them questions You want your audience to walk away remembering a few key points So your goal is to be as clear as possible Why do presentations?

Rough sketch of a presentation Broad Hourglass shape Introduction of the issue Background information Specific hypotheses Design Results Interpret the results General Conclusions Specifics of your study Broad Rough sketch of a presentation

Preparation Consider your audience - who are they, what do they want, what do they already know Start collecting the things that you think that you’ll need - graphs, tables, pictures, examples, data analyses, etc. Determine the key points that you want them to remember focus your presentation on these points Camping trip analogy Your initial pack usually has too much stuff Need to figure out what to take out Practice, rehearse, and then practice again Camping trip analogy: The process of developing a talk to that of preparing for a backpacking expedition. Plan ahead, review your goals, and plan for emergencies. At some point after you are fully prepared, open the backpack and remove between 1/3 to 1/2 of its contents. Then shoulder the pack and head for the hills - there will be more spring in your step, and it will be easier to recover if you stumble. Preparation

Poster content Stick to the hourglass shape for content Balance of text and figures Use bullet points Give example stimuli Use large enough font to read from 6 feet away End with 3 or 4 key “take home” points Decide what these are at the beginning, and then construct the poster so that they are the logical take home points Poster content

Brief checklist for the poster Initial sketch/outline Rough layout Balance (text/pictures, data/conclusions) Typography Movement Simplicity Final layout Brief checklist for the poster

Authors and affiliation Title Authors and affiliation FLOW Introduction Not a lot of detail Just the main points Hypotheses & predictions Results Graphs/tables Bullet points of main results Conclusions 3 or 4 take home points Potential limitations Methods Not a lot of detail just the main points Participants Design IVs & DVs Examples of stimuli References If you cite something give the full reference

Authors and affiliation Title Authors and affiliation Methods Results Introduction FLOW Conclusions References

The pen is mightier than the brush: Using mnemonics Leon DaVinci and Bill Shakespear Illinois State University Introduction Conclusions Remembering things is often a challenge in everyday life. “What was I supposed to get at the grocery store?” (Cutting, 2000) We examined two factors We predicted: mnemonic devices will help memory for both pictures and words effect larger for words than pictures Results Stimulus type matters: participants remembered words better than pictures Use of mnemonic devices helps memory performance Potential limitations mnemonics No Percent recall pictures words stimulus type: pictures/words use of mnemonics Methods 900 native English speakers 2 x 2 between groups design Measured the percent correctly recalled items from a free recall procedure 24 pictures and words main effect of stimulus type main effect of mnemonic no interaction References words pictures books Cutting J. C. (2000). Finding things in your house. Journal of Memory and Stuff, 17, pg 1-230. frog

Presentation of the poster Arrive early and set up Author(s) stand next to poster Have a short “walk through” presentation ready Answer questions (also ask questions) Handout copies of the poster available (sometimes), or a request sign-up Presentation of the poster

Your posters (our checklist) Content Introduction Problem of interest Very brief summary of past research Basic purpose of experiment(s) Hypotheses Method Brief but clear Design Materials Procedure (brief) Your posters (our checklist)

Your posters (our checklist) Content cont. Results Descriptive statistics Inferential results Discussion Hypothesis rejected or supported Implication of results A few take home points References Tables and figures Useful info to reader Easy to understand Your posters (our checklist)

Your posters (our checklist) Format Overall clarity Organization Font size Figure/text balance Title Authors Your posters (our checklist)

Different kinds of talks Research Presentations (typically 10 to 30 mins) Paper with respondent Panel Presentation Workshop Following are descriptions of the types of conference presentations you may do as a graduate student. Presentation types differ among disciplines. For example, those in the humanities typically read their papers aloud at conferences, while social scientists give summary presentations of longer works. Conference research presentation. Read/given by a single speaker. Typically scheduled for anywhere between 12 mins and 30 mins (depends on the conference). Usually 2 to 5 mins are reserved at the end of each talk for questions from the audience. Paper with Respondent. In this type of presentation, a speaker gives a thirty-minute paper. A respondent then gives a fifteen-minute response to the paper. The speaker subsequently gives a fifteen-minute reply to the response. Panel Presentation. Panel sessions include 3-4 speakers, each of whom talks for 15-20 minutes. Panels may also have a discussant who comments on the papers/presentations individually and as a group. Roundtable. A roundtable features five or more speakers, each of whom talks for 5-10 minutes. Workshop. These sessions can vary in length from 90 minutes to one full day. Workshop presenters give short statements before involving the audience in some type of activity. Different kinds of talks

Talk Content Create a logical progression to the talk Hourglass shape Work on the transitions between slides Be brief, but include enough details so that the audience can follow the arguments Use slides to help simplify/clarify points Include tables, graphs, pictures, etc. Don’t just read the slides but do “walk through” those that need it (e.g. graphs of results) Be careful of jargon, explain terms (if in fact you really need them) Talk Content

Presentation of the talk Make it smooth (lots of practice will help) Watch your speaking rate (again, practice) Maintain eye contact with whole audience Emphasize the key points, make sure that the audience can identify these Point to the slides if it helps Beware jokes, can be a double-edged sword Don’t go over your time Presentation of the talk

Dealing with questions Repeat the question in your own words so that the rest of the audience can hear it to make sure that you understood the question to buy yourself some time to think about the answer Try not to be nervous you know your study better than anyone else When preparing, try to think of likely questions and prepare answers Dealing with questions

Checklist for the talk Preparation Prepare the Final Outline Analyze the audience Choose your main points etc. Prepare the Final Outline fix any problems/loose ends Construct your “speaking” outline e.g., the note cards that you’ll read Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse Checklist for the talk

Next time Finishing up statistics T-tests & ANOVA What they test How to report these results Next time