Part 2 In this part, you will write a first draft of the Method and Data Analysis section of your proposal. Refer back to the Formatting Demonstration section if you need a refresher about research papers. Because this is the Method and Data Analysis section of a proposal paper, you will be describing what you want to do for your study in each subsection. Therefore, everything written in this section is in future tense.
The Method section describes to the reader who you will gather as your participants, what materials you will use to measure your variables, and how you will collect your data.
The Data Analysis section is where you will report the statistical analysis you plan to use to analyze your data. It is important for you to know and understand what is the appropriate analysis to use before you collect data. Taking statistics is a pre-requisite for this course, and I am not expecting you to remember every single thing that you learned in statistics, but there are a few concepts that I would like to remind you of.
There are 2 major categories of statistical analyses that are used in research: descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics give you a summary of the data, typically reporting the percentage, mean, and standard deviation of your variables. These measurements give us an idea of what the sample was like.
Inferential statistics allow you to form and infer conclusions about your hypotheses based on the data. There are many statistical tests that can be used to form conclusions, such as the z-test, t-test, F-test, Pearson’s r, etc. What test you use will depend on how you measure your variables. All these tests rely on one major concept to determine whether there is a significant relationship between your variables, which is probability. Without getting into too many details, the logic of inferential tests is this – In research, we assume that there is no relationship between variables (also called the null hypothesis) unless there is strong evidence that a relationship actually does exist.
For example, I assume that everyone tells me the truth, unless there is strong evidence that they are not telling the truth. If there is a less than 5% chance, or probability, that someone is telling the truth, then I will conclude that they are most likely not telling the truth.
In research, if there is less than a 5% chance, or probability that there is no relationship between the variables, then there is most likely a relationship between the variables. In other words, if there is a less than 5% chance that the null hypothesis is true, then it’s probably not true. That 5% chance is our marker to determine whether there is or is not a relationship between the variables. A p-value is the probability that the null hypothesis is true. When we read scientific articles and reach the results section, you’ll see the data analysis that was conducted. When you see “p = …”, that is your p-value. If the p-value is less than .05, then we conclude that there is a relationship between the variables. If the p-value is greater than .05, then we conclude that there is no relationship between the variables. This is how you interpret data even if you are unfamiliar with the specific statistical analysis used. This is the standard that we use in research – I repeat, if the p-value is less than .05, then we conclude that there is a relationship between the variables.
Hopefully, what I went over sounds familiar. Again, I am not expecting you to remember the details of your statistics class, but you do need to understand the overall context of statistical analysis.
For each section, include the following details.
Method
Participants – Describe the sample you want to survey. You will survey adults online. You will need to survey a minimum of 100 participants. If you are surveying everyone, mention that you will be surveying a diverse sample. If you are surveying a particular group, then discuss the specific group of people that you will survey. Include this sentence at the end of your participants section: Participants were treated in accordance with the “Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct” (American Psychological Association, 2017). This sentence is included to ensure ethical treatment of participants.
Materials – Describe the survey and questions that will be used to measure your independent and dependent variables. Be detailed in your description of your survey, including how many questions are in the survey and the type of questions (Open-ended? Rating scale?) are asked.
Procedure -State the following information in complete sentences: 1) using Google Forms to collect data from online participants, 2) get informed consent from participants before survey begins, 3) debrief participants after taking survey.
Data Analysis
The general outline is as follows:
– First sentence states the hypothesis.
– Second sentence states the independent and dependent variables.
– Third sentence states what statistical analysis will be used to analyze the data. For this project, because you are comparing two groups, you will be using a 2-sample t-test.
As you can see, the method and data analysis section for a simple study with 1 hypothesis can be as short as 3 sentences. Type up your draft and submit your draft as a doc, docx, or PDF file. If you have any questions, let me know.
(Any questions you want)
