Experimental Psychology
Scientific Research Report 2
In this final Scientific
Research Report, you will apply what you have learned about scientific writing
and methods throughout the class to present the rationale, predictions,
methodology, findings, and critical discussion of your group’s experimental
research project. The main tenets of scientific report writing assessed are:
· Clarity
– direct, cogent communication of
relevant theories, hypotheses, methods, and analytic techniques
· Precision
– use of appropriate scientific
terms, accurate descriptions of experimental methodologies, and identification
of correct statistical techniques
· Scientific
Fluency –
articulation of the link between theory and experimental hypotheses, hypotheses
and methods, and discussion of the implications of results for theory and
practice
· Organization
– assignment of content to the
appropriate sections and subsections
Below are the required sections and components within
each section to be included in the Scientific Research Report.
Title
and Abstract (10 pts)
· Correctly
formatted title page with unique descriptive title
· Correctly
formatted descriptive abstract that is 200 words or less in length
Components
of the Introduction (20 pts)
· Identification
of relevant theory and description of theory
· Review
of background literature, with the citation of four empirical psychology
articles that provided evidence for the theory (at least two empirical articles
should be different from your other group members’ cited articles)
· Explanation
of why your group’s present study is an appropriate test of the theory/concept
· Statement
of research question and research/alternative hypothesis
Components
of the Method Section (20 pts)
· Participant
characteristics (N, sampling method, general characteristics of the sample)
· Identification
of IV, IV levels, and DV
· Operational
definition of DV
· Manipulation
of the IV levels
· Basic
design (e.g. within subjects or independent groups)
· Materials
used (e.g. survey, apparatus, instruments, technologies): copies of
questionnaires, manipulation stimuli, and scripts should be added to the
Appendix
· Procedure
–what participants did, chronologically, in the experiment (include information
on random assignment if you had an independent groups design and
counterbalancing if you had a within-subjects design)
Components
of the Results Section (15 pts)
· Statement
of why you conducted the statistics you conducted. In other words, how do the
stats fit the needs of the experiment?
· Descriptive
statistics: indicate the mean DV scores and their standard deviations per level
of the IV in the text of your results section.
· Inferential
statistics: indicate the results of the inferential statistical tests that you
used to analyze your data in the text of the results section. Make sure you
include relevant information and the appropriate notation for each statistical
test.
· Null
hypothesis significance testing: can you reject or do you fail to reject the
null hypothesis based on the inferential statistics results?
· Visual
representation of data in the form of a graph included in the Appendix and
referred to in the Results section. Include a bar graph of the mean DV scores
by IV level. If you reported multiple DVs, include a graph for each DV.
Components
of the Discussion Section (10 pts)
· Summary
of results and whether you can retain your alternative hypothesis.
· Critical
discussion of limitations of research methodologies -identify flaws,
confounding variables, generalizability problems, etc. Make sure that these go
beyond sample size and sample type to discussing limitations and confounding
variables in your specific research design and implementation.
· Implications
of results for theory, practice, and future research.
References
(5 pts)
· APA-style
references for peer-reviewed, empirical psychological research studies.
· Must
include at minimum four peer-reviewed, empirical psychological research studies
relevant to your group’s project.
Format
and style (10 pts)
The format of the report will follow APA (American
Psychological Association) style. According to APA style, the report should be
typed in 12pt, Times New Roman font, double-spaced, with 1” margins. Use a
professional writing style (e.g. no contractions) with complete sentences and
minimal use of the first person. Proofread for spelling, syntax, and
grammatical errors. Be extremely careful to write the report in your own words. The Scientific Research Report should not have copied and
pasted sections of text from the poster. It should be distinct from the poster
and from other students’ papers. Turnitin will be used to screen papers that
have more than a 20% overlap with any other sources, including group member
papers. For example, when you and your group members cite two shared
articles, each of your summaries of the articles must be distinct and written
in your own words.
You must include the following sections
· Title
page with a title for the report (not “Scientific Research Report 2”), your
full name, affiliation, and the date
· Clearly
marked sections for:
o
Abstract
o
Introduction
o
Methods
o
Results
o
Discussion
o
References
o
Appendix
Full points for Format and Style will be awarded to
papers that adhere to APA format, organize information using appropriate
section headings, reflect a high degree of polish and professionalism in
writing, are free of errors, and demonstrate
clarity in communicating information.
