Cite any materials (i.e. surveys, methodology) that have been adapted from other sources. Use Times New Roman and 12-point font. The paper should be double spaced throughout. Please upload a word document for your method section.
In the method section, describe how you plan to test your hypotheses. You should include subsections here (e.g., participants, materials, procedure, and data analysis). Be specific about what you plan to do and how this plan provides answers to the questions posed in the introduction. Reiterate study aims and specify the method you will use to test your hypotheses.
Write as much as you need to fully explain how your study will be conducted. There should be enough detail for someone to replicate your study. Usually, complete method sections are 3-4 pages long; if your design is extremely straightforward andyour language is concise, you may find 2 pages to be adequate (I do not think this will be the case for most of you). Subheadings (Participants, Materials, Procedure, Data Analysis) should be in bold, with lower level headings in italics. To receive maximum points, be sure to touch on each of the questions/points raised in the below paragraphs.
Participants: How will you recruit participants? Will they be college students, community members, children, etc.? How many do you expect to collect? Inclusion and exclusion criteria? Describe group assignment (if applicable) and efforts for balancing. 5 points.
Materials: Include scales and other information such as stimuli, etc. that will be used in your study. Identify what the material/measure is (i.e., which scale, with the associated reference), how many questions it consists of, anchors, two example questions, reliability and validity estimates (with citation), and incorporate visuals if necessary. E.g. “Participants will respond on a scale ranging from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 7 (Strongly agree) on questions such as _____.” Mention reliability and validity support for measures and cite every scale/measure you use.If you will modify the scale, explain why and how. 10 points.
Procedure: Explains step-by-step what participants will do, including all tasks (consent, manipulations, stimuli, measures, demographics, debriefing). Anyone who reads this section should be able to exactly replicate your study. 10 points.
Data analysis: Which statistical analysis will you use to test each of your three hypotheses? Correlations, regression, t-tests, ANOVAs, etc. What will be your criteria? i.e., alpha, power, two-tailed vs. one-tailed, etc. What are your IV(s), DV(s), etc.? Do NOT put any hypotheses/expected results here. Simply define which analyses will be used to test each hypothesis and why. You should have separate analyses for each of your three hypotheses. 5 points.
