Stats+Research+Project

This project has been adapted (made way easier) than the IB required assignment.


 * Experiment Replication Project and Paper**

Psychology students ideally develop an understanding of the experimental method to demonstrate the application of knowledge and skills to the research process. For this project, you will replicate a psychological experiment. After selecting the study you will reproduce, you will conduct background research on which to form your hypothesis, develop an experimental method aligned with the study you are replicating, collect data from the participants in your experimental and control conditions, analyze your data, draw conclusions, and discuss the strengths and limitations of your research. You will describe all of these processes in a 1000- to 1500-word paper. For the sake of this study, you will only be allowed to complete a true experiment, in which you manipulate a single independent variable while other variables are constant across control and experimental conditions/groups. Therefore, quasi-experiments, naturalistic studies, and surveys are not acceptable, as they will not provide you with the opportunity to practice and display your understanding of experimental design and data analysis.
 * I. Goals and Overview**

You will be required to follow all ethical guidelines established by the APA, the school, other organizations, and your teacher.
 * II. Ethical Considerations**

A. Before beginning your research, you must inform your participants about the nature of your research. Also, because many of you will conduct your study in another teacher’s classroom, you must gain permission from that teacher

B. Each participant must sign a consent form, and children (under 18) must have parental consent, if you study them. Consent forms include the following statements, which are adapted from the International Baccalaureate Organization’s guidelines.

C. After completing your experiment, you must debrief your participants, thanking them, assuring that they are comfortable with the research process, and providing them with a way to obtain the results when they are available.

D. Because we cannot ensure their proper and ethical care, non-human animals are not appropriate for this experiment.

E. Due to ethical, moral, and/or social sensitivity, some topics are not appropriate for study at this level. You must therefore gain approval from your teacher before you begin. For example, you will not conduct studies related to sexual behavior, drug use, or discrimination. Furthermore, you must significantly limit deception in your research. Moreover, you may not intentionally place participants into embarrassing situations or create excessive cognitive dissonance, such as in Asch’s conformity study.

I have been informed about the nature of the research. I understand that I have the right to withdraw from the research at any time and that any information/data about me will remain confidential. • My anonymity will be protected, as my name will not be identifiable. • The research will be conducted so that I will not be demeaned in any way. • I will be debriefed at the end, and I have the opportunity to find out the results at a later date. • I give my informed consent to participating in this research. Name __Date__ _ Way to contact
 * Consent Form Sample**

F. Finally, you must cite your resources appropriately.

Many psychological experiments are worthwhile for replication. Generally, the most successful for this project involve relatively simple memory and recognition studies, such as the Stroop Effect, recall at different times of day, the effects of music on memory, memory reconstruction, and facial recognition. However, please recognize that many historic psychological studies would now be considered unethical or were not experimental. Specific examples of appropriate topics include:
 * III. Topic Selection**

A. Asch—Impression formation—See the social psychology unit in most textbooks; create a control group to make it more experimental; FYI—Asch's conformity study is overly deceptive for this project B. Loftus—Eyewitness memory—See the cognition unit in most textbooks C. Stroop—The Stroop effect—This link is to Stroop's journal publication; search "Stroop effect" to find resources easier to read/understand D. Roediger and McDermott—False memory—Select only one part of the experiment, and create a control group E. Peterson and Peterson—STM capacity— F. Bousfield—Semantic encoding—Go to "Organization and Storage" portion of the textbook G. Frost—Visual and semantic encoding—See the cognition unit of the textbook H. Conrad—Acoustic mistakes despite visual presentation in STM storage—See the cognition unit V. Final Product

The paper will include the following sections, and you will write in APA style, which is described at the Purdue University On-Line Writing Lab (“OWL”): http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/. The main text of the paper should be between 1000 and 1500 words, including ONLY the Introduction, Methods, Results text (not graphs), and Discussion sections. The title page and references are NOT included in the total word count. Generally, students who are under the limit are leaving out significant information. Those over the limit have to figure out how to be concise.

details), running head (again, see APA formatting information for details), your name, date of submission, and total word count
 * A. Title page**—page 1—abbreviated title and page number (see APA formatting information for

details), one-paragraph summary of the aims, methods, results, and conclusions; you will write the Abstract LAST.
 * B. Abstract**—page 2—abbreviated title and page number (see APA formatting information for

1. What is the aim of your study? 2. What/whose work are you replicating? Describe the original study’s aim, method, and conclusion. 3. What value might there be to replicating this study? 4. Define key terms for your experiment and elaborate on research related to the original study. Cite your resources appropriately in APA style. 5. Identify your hypothesis. Justify it in light of your background research.
 * C. Introduction—begin page 3**

1. Design a. Are you using a repeated measures, matched pairs, or independent samples design? Why? Justify your selection. b. What is your independent variable? How is it measured/operationalized? What is your dependent variable? How is it measured/operationalized? c. How are you assuring that you are following ethical guidelines? (You will probably refer to a sample consent form in the Appendix here.) d. What are you controlling for? How and why?
 * D. Methods, subdivided into the following four sections; include the subtitles**

2. Participants a. What is your target population? b. Who makes up your sample? (Samples should include around 30 participants per condition) c. What method have you used to sample, and why is your sample an appropriaterepresentation of your target population?

3. Materials a. List all the materials used in your study. b. Refer to blank copies of all forms, test instruments, standardized instructions, etc. to be placed in an Appendix at the end of your paper. (Forms are the same as results charts and don't count towards your word count!)

4. Procedure Describe your procedure in sufficient detail so that someone could replicate your study. The procedure may be in paragraph form or in bullet format.

1. Describe your results in paragraph form. Use descriptive statistics, including mean, median, mode, standard deviation, range, etc. Refer to graph(s) and table(s), placed below the text. 2. Display your summative graph(s) and table(s) below the text. One graph often is sufficient. Be sure that the type of graph is the best choice for how to display your data and that it is labeled thoroughly. For example, pie graphs are appropriate for percentages but not for most other types of data. 3. The text and graphs should both be detailed enough that they could essentially stand alone in displaying your data, but they are both required. 4. Raw data must go in the Appendix, not in the Results section. Refer to it in the text.
 * E. Results**

1. Restate the results quickly; draw a conclusion. 2. Link the results to your hypothesis. Did they support the hypothesis? Why (not)? 3. Link the results to the original study. Were they similar? Why (not)? 4. What were the strengths and limitations of your research process? 5. If you were to do this again, what would you modify? 6. What future research might be inspired by your study? 7. What are the implications of your research?
 * F. Discussion**

Use APA citation method. Be sure you used all items in your reference list in the Introduction section of your paper.
 * G. References**—start on a new page

1. Sample consent form 2. Standardized instructions 3. Test instruments 4. Raw data 5. Any other relevant materials
 * H. Appendices**—each on a separate page; refer to all of these in the text of your paper


 * IV. Rubric (Adapted from the International Baccalaureate Organization)**

0 points There is not introduction, or it is irrelevant 1 point The aim is imprecise, or the study being replicated is identified but not explained. Or, the aim is stated and the replicated study is clearly described, but the background research is not sufficient. 2 points The aim of the study is clearly stated, the study being replicated is clearly identified and explained, and the background research is sufficient.
 * A. Introduction**

0 points The independent and dependent variables are not accurately identified or are irrelevant. The ethical guidelines are not followed. 1 point The independent and dependent variable are accurately identified but may not be clearly operationalized. The design is appropriate but unjustified. Ethical guidelines are followed. 2 points The independent and dependent variables are accurately identified and operationalized. The design is appropriate and justified. Ethical guidelines are followed.
 * B. Method:** Design

0 points No relevant characteristics of the target population are identified, and no relevant sampling technique is identified or justified. 1 point Some characteristics of the target population are identified, but not all are relevant. The sample is selected with an appropriate method, but the method is unjustified. 2 points The characteristics of the target population are identified. The sample is selected using an appropriate method, and the method is justified.
 * C. Method:** Participants

0 points No relevant procedure is presented 1 point The procedure is relevant to the aims, but it is not clearly described or easily replicable. 2 points The procedure is relevant to the aims, is clearly described, and is easily replicable.
 * D. Method:** Procedure

0 points There are no results, or they are not relevant to the aims. 1-2 points Results are stated and accurate. Graphs are not sufficiently accurate or clear. 3-4 points Results are clearly stated and accurate. Graphs are accurate and clear.
 * E. Results**

0 points There is no discussion, or it is irrelevant. 1-2 points The discussion of the results in light of the study being replicated and the hypothesis is very superficial. The strengths and limitations are not always accurately identified. There is no conclusion drawn, and no modifications for future study are suggested. 3-5 points The discussion of the results in light of the study being replicated and the hypothesis is not fully developed. Not all strengths and limitations have been accurately identified. The conclusion is appropriate, and some modifications for future study are suggested. 6 points The discussion of the results in light of the study being replicated is fully developed. The strengths and limitations of the study are clearly identified. The conclusion is appropriate and well balanced, and modifications and/or improvements are suggested for future research.
 * F. Discussion**

0 points The report is not within the 1000 to 1500 limit, which includes the main text of the Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion sections and/or no references are included. 1 point The report is with the word limit. However, it is not in the required format, the references are incomplete, or the citation method is not used consistently. 2 points The paper is in the correct format and is the appropriate length. References are provided properly in APA format
 * G. Presentation** (written, not verbal)

20 =100pts