Research Report: Article Containing Empirical Results

Research Report Instructions You will earn 1 credit toward the RPG research requirement for each correctly completed report. To earn credit, you must follow all of the instructions below. You should use this handout as a checklist to ensure each report meets all the criteria before submission. Reports are due by the last day of classes. You must turn in your paper to your instructor or TA (if specified). Either hand in your reports in class or place them in your instructor’s mailbox (207a Park Hall) no later than 5pm on the last day of classes. Keep in mind that papers can be turned in any time before the last day of classes.

STEP 1: FIND AN ARTICLE & PRINT THE 1st PAGE First, you will need to select an article to write your report on. The following criteria must be met for each article: 1. It must be an APA journal article from UB Libraries’ PsychARTICLES full-text database (You must be on a campus computer or logged in through UB proxy to access this database). 2. It must have been published no more than 6 months prior to the date you hand it in. 3. It must contain empirical results (i.e., it reports the results of an experiment and contains a Methods section with participants, hypotheses, results and discussion); it cannot be a summary or opinion paper. *For additional help on finding a paper, see “Help Finding an Article” (below). Once you find an article that meets the criteria, you should read it for an overall understanding of the research. ***You must print and attach the first page of the article to your report.***

STEP 2: WRITE THE RESEARCH REPORT Include the following information at the top of your report: The 1st line should be your name and person number The 2nd line should be the journal name The 3rd line should contain the article title The 4th line should be the publication date For example: Jane Doe 123456789 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology The Effects of Helping on Love July, 2017 Next, answer the following questions in your own words. You should be able to answer the questions without reading the Results section of the paper (i.e., by just reading the introductory section, the section labeled “Methods” and the section labeled “Discussion”). If the paper reports more than one experiment, pick one of the experiments and answer the questions below. Your report should be 1-2 pages, double-spaced. It must be typed (not hand-written). Questions 1- 3 can be answered in 1 to 3 sentences each. Questions 4 and 5 will require more elaboration (1-3 paragraphs each). 1. Hypotheses: What was the hypothesis being tested by the experiment? 2. Participants: Who were the participants or subjects in the experiment? (You can find this information in the Methods section of the paper). 3. Results: What did the experiment find? (You can find this information in the Discussion section of the paper). 4. Methods: Based on the methods section of the paper, write a first person description, pretending that you are a participant in the study. In other words, based on what the methods section told you participants did in the experiment, write a description of what it would be like to be in the experiment from the perspective of a participant. For example, if the methods say “First, all participants filled out a questionnaire assessing their attitudes about golf,” you would write: “The first thing I did in the experiment was to fill out a questionnaire assessing my attitudes about golf.” Describe the entire method section in this manner. 5. Your reaction to the methods: Now that you have described the methods section, write a paragraph or two describing how you think you would have reacted to being in the experiment. Would you have liked it? Would it have been fun? Do you think you would have guessed the hypotheses?