Experimental Psychology PSY 433

1. Experimental PsychologyPSY 433 Chapter 5 Research Reports

2. Exam on Wednesday • Based on the textbook: • Covers all chapters and pages noted on syllabus (Ch 1-4 plus Appendix A & pgs noted from Ch 8) • No questions from labs • No questions on APA format details • Powerpoints provide an outline of what I considered important enough to discuss in class – not a substitute for reading the book. • No scantron needed

3. Required for Your Project • Proposal – a description of the project before it is done: • Written in future tense • Include Title Page, Introduction, Methods, References • Final report – due at end of quarter, will include all parts, written in past tense. • Must include at least 1 figure and 1 table • Use of APA format is 50% of your grade • Write it as if you are submitting a paper for publication, not as a student completing an assignment • Each student must write an individual proposal and final report – don’t plagiarize each other. • OK to share resources but not writing

4. Overview of the Process • Science requires communication of results to: • Other scientists. • The general public. • Ways of communicating results: • Oral presentations at conferences – 20 min. • Posters at conferences. • Peer-reviewed journals. • The media – books, TV, news outlets. • Only after communication to scientific community.

5. Peer Reviewed Journals • Published by Academic Publishers, frequently in association with psychological organizations. • An editor selects relevant experts to review each submission. • Reviewers critique submissions, suggest changes, recommend publication or not. • Articles do not need to be perfect to be published – just scientifically sound and worth reading.

6. APA Format • Speeds up literature searches for those doing research by placing information in standard places within a text. • Prevents errors by the publisher because less interpretation must be made of the author’s intentions. • Authors do not need to learn a new format for each journal they wish to submit to.

7. Parts of the Article • Title page • Abstract • Text: • Introduction • Methods • Results • Discussion • References • Appendix, Tables and Figures

8. Structure of the Report • Reports go from theory to the experimental model and back to theory again. • Theory – Introduction • Experimental Model – Methods & Results • Theory – Discussion • Theory may be discussed in the present tense but the experiment (model) is always described in the past tense.

9. Contents of Proposal • Required for the assignment due 11/4: • Title Page • Introduction • Methods (written in future tense) • References • Proposals to granting agencies also include: • Bios of the researchers • Budgets and performance timetables • Lots of forms

10. Goals of a Research Proposal • Convince the reader that the question is important and needs to be explored. • Convince the reader that you are qualified to do the research (not part of the class project). • Describe what research has occurred previously and what the competing theories are. • Describe your plan for research in detail. • Demonstrate that you have the resources to carry out the plan.

11. Title Page • Detachable for anonymous review. • Running head and title serve different purposes: • Title will appear at top of article when printed. • Running head will appear at top of each page when printed. • List authors in order of contribution, with affiliations – your group members names should go on your paper. • Your name goes first, so I know who wrote the paper.

12. Introduction • Clearly state the research question and its importance to society or to theory. • Describe what has already been done to address this question: • Review current theories and state the theory you hold. • Review work done by others in the literature. • In the last paragraph, explain how the question will be addressed and make a prediction about the results.

13. Methods • This section describes the experimental model that will test the theory’s prediction. • Provide an introductory description of the study (overview). • Describe IV, DV, and design. • Describe the “rationale” for the experiment. • Provide sufficient detail about participants, apparatus, materials, procedure, to permit someone to replicate your study. • Include a figure showing stimuli, setup or apparatus.

14. References • Intended to enable others to find the articles you used as sources. • Use of APA format prevents misunderstandings about dates, page numbers, authorship, etc. • PsycInfo automatically downloads cites in APA format. • New media (e.g., web pages, email, DVDs) are described in the newest APA Manual revision (6th Edition). • Check sources cited in text to be sure they are listed in refs and check refs to be sure every reference is mentioned in text.

15. Final Report • A good proposal is the foundation of your final report – saves work later on. • Also used for: • IRB protocol • Conference abstracts • Faculty reports and grant progress reports • Web pages and job hunting • Revised to produce the APA format final report at the end of the project.

16. What is Plagiarism? • http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml#plagiarized

17. Samples from Past Student Papers • The participants will report to a specified lab room in building 5. Participants will be greeted and asked to quietly take a seat at a computer station. • Subjects will report to a specified lab room in building 5. Upon entering the lab subjects will be greeted and asked to quietly take a seat. • This is Unacceptable

18. Another Unacceptable Example • Using a bivalent within-subjects design, we will be measuring the affect… • Using a bivalent within-subjects design, we will measure the participant’s correct responses. • We will be using a bivalent within-subjects design measuring both the affects of the sex… • Using a bivalent design, the correct responses of the participants will be measured…

19. One More Unacceptable Example • Data was analyzed using SPSS a statistics software program produced by IBM. A 0.05 significance level was used. • Information was collected from the participants’ responses and was evaluated at the .05 level of significance using SPSS known as a statistical software developed by IBM. • One student clearly used a group member’s paper as a template for writing the Results.