Experimental Psychology PSY 433

1. Experimental PsychologyPSY 433 Project Information

2. Selecting a Topic • Sources of ideas include: • Past or present courses • Current events important in your life • Replications of classic research • Extensions of existing research • Paradoxes (contradictions, controversies) • Introspection on your own thoughts, feelings & behavior • The Discussion sections of articles frequently provide ideas and topics for further research.

3. Criteria for a Good Project • Narrow your focus to a very specific question. • Is there a theory that might explain it – good research is motivated by theory. • Theories are found in the literature – reading is required before you can find your topic! • Can the theory be tested – what kind of experiment would test it? • Is it practical to accomplish within 5-6 weeks? • Are the needed resources available?

4. Requirements for the Project • Must have two IVs: • One IV must be something you manipulate. • The other can be a demographic variable (such as sex, age, ethnicity, religion, etc.) • Try to recruit at least 20-30 subjects per condition – this will be affected by availability. • Every study must provide an informed consent form. • All members of the group must do CITI. • Everyone in the group must participate.

5. Resources • Building 5 classrooms equipped with computers, projectors, AV and desks. • Meeting rooms (5-114, 5-118b). • Library quiet study rooms. • Rooms on the wider campus (see me). • Other needs – see me.

6. Difficult Topics • We cannot recruit or test children because it takes too long to get parental permission. • Studies involving prisoners or mentally ill people are similarly difficult. • Studies asking invasive questions about sex, drug/alcohol use or criminal behavior require complicated confidentiality protections. • We can study attitudes about such behaviors or attitudes about parenting or children, as long as normal adult subjects are used.

7. Forbidden Topics • Mozart Effect – no studies testing whether listening to any type of music improves cognitive ability or test performance. • No studies of whether noise is distracting. • No memory studies testing whether the color of type affects retention, etc. • Memory studies must test some aspect of current memory theory, not simply what is easy or hard to remember. • No Stroop effect replications.