PSY205: Major Assignment 1: Experiment Design Psychology Essay

PSY205

Major Assignment 1: Structured Review of Empirical Research

Deadline: This assignment must be submitted by Sunday, September 20^th by 11:59pm EST.

Submission policy: This assignment must be submitted using the Turnitin submission link in your recitation folder on Blackboard. Assignments will not be accepted via email under any circumstances. Late assignments, even if by 1 second late, will not be accepted. Technology-related problems will not be an acceptable excuse for failing to submit this assignment by the deadline. Be sure you give yourself plenty of time to resolve any computer issues or questions ahead of the deadline. ITS (you can get help HERE or email [email protected]) can take several days to reply. Plan ahead.

You can find detailed instructions about how to submit an assignment via Turnitin HERE. Please note: Pop-up blockers might prevent a proper upload of your assignment, so ensure you turn them off. Also, Turnitin does not work well with the Safari browser. SU recommends using Chome or Mozilla Firefox as your internet browser.

No assignments will be accepted after the deadline, even if you have a screenshot of your submission attempt before the deadline or even if you provide the “last modified” date in a Word document. Bottom line, the only way you will earn credit for this assignment is if you submit it before the deadline via Turnitin. You will know you have successfully submitted the assignment when you receive an email confirmation from Turnitin. If you do not receive a confirmation, you did not properly submit your assignment and will need to resubmit it. If you resubmit an assignment, it will save right over the old submission and all we will grade is your final submission.

If you have questions about this process, please contact your TA at least 48 hours before the due date/time. Remember that TAs are not responsible for emails over the weekends. You have been given two weeks to complete the assignment. Please don’t wait until the last minute! Ultimately, it is your responsibility to ensure you properly submitted your assignment on time and in the correct location.

Academic Integrity policy reminder: All major assignments are to be completed entirely independently. If you have questions about the material or the assignment, ask your TA or Dr. Martin for help. Do NOT share your assignment in any form with any student for any reason. Do not ask others for their work. Your responses must be written using your own words. Do NOT copy/paste things from your article or quote what the researchers say. Doing so violates the academic integrity expectations for this course, and will result in a referral to the Center for Learning and Student Success (CLASS) – the office that handles academic integrity cases. Please review SU’s academic integrity policy HERE and the course policy located in the syllabus (see page 22). If you have any questions about this policy, please contact your TA or Dr. Martin at least 48 hours before the assignment due date.

Also note: You will receive a copy of your Originality Report when you submit your work, which means that you can self-evaluate potential plagiarism and have an opportunity to revise it (another reason to turn your work in well before the deadline!). If you submit your assignment to Turnitin and receive an Originality Report that indicates that your assignment has a Similarity Score of 30% or higher, you should revise your assignment and resubmit your work using your own words. You must resubmit BEFORE the original due date/time for your resubmission to count. Only the latest version as of Sunday, Sept. 20^th at 11:59pm EST will be graded. If that version indicates plagiarism, an academic integrity report will be filed.

The Purpose of this Assignment: One of the major goals of this course is to teach you how to draw appropriate, logical, and objective conclusions about behavior and mental processes based on empirical evidence. Doing so requires students to be able to read, summarize, and critically evaluate psychological research. These represent fundamental skills in the field of psychology. Even if you choose not to continue in the field of psychology, these skills will allow you to be informed consumers of popular media and news that purports to be based on psychological research. This assignment is intended to assess learning objectives #1, #4, and #5 in your course syllabus.

To help accomplish this goal, this assignment builds on the work we’ve done in class to walk you through the process of reading, summarizing, and evaluating an empirical research paper from a psychology journal.

Please read the following instructions carefully. You will lose points for now following them.

Instructions:  

1. You must choose an article from the list of options provided at the end of these instructions.

• If you choose an article that is not on the list, you will receive 0 credit and will not be given an opportunity to redo your work.   

1. Read the article you chose and take notes.

• It may be useful to read through the questions below first in order to have an idea of what you are looking for while reading. I also suggest referring to the information covered in your recitation section for Week 3.

1. Create a word document (or PDF if you use another platform). At the top, include your full first and last name, your recitation section (e.g., M005; M013), Your TA’s name, Major Assignment #1, and the title of the article you selected.

• Failure to include this information will result in an automatic 2-point deduction.

1. Type your answers to each question provided below. You will likely need only a few brief sentences to answer each question. Please be sure to fully and clearly answer each.

• Do not include the actual questions on your answer sheet! Turnitin will read these as plagiarized. Only include the numbers.

1. 5.    Your answers should be written double-spaced, using Times New Roman, 12-point font. Write your response in complete sentences (not bullet-points). Failure to use proper grammar and spelling will result in an automatic 2-point deduction.

• If you are concerned about this, this would be an excellent opportunity to make use of the free editing consultation services at the Writing Center! Be sure to plan ahead to ensure that you have enough time to get feedback before the assignment is due.

1. Some empirical papers will describe multiple studies within the same paper. If you choose to read a paper that includes more than one study, please choose only one study to evaluate. Please indicate which study you are answering your questions about (e.g., “I chose Study 1”). 


2. Do NOT include the actual questions when you submit your assignment to Turnitin. Instead, number each question on your page and then write out your answers. Submitting the questions may result in a falsely high similarity score in Turnitin.


3. Submit your completed assignment as a Word document or PDF to the Turnitin submission link located in your recitation Blackboard folder by Sunday, Sept. 20^th at 11:59pm EST.

This major assignment is worth a total of 20 points. I encourage you to review the two example assignments I provided to you on Blackboard. This will give you a good sense of what your answers should generally look like. Please contact your TA with any questions you may have about this assignment.

Questions:

I have provided hints as to where you can find the information you need to answer the question. However, you must write your answers in your own words. Do not copy and paste from the article or from the lecture slides/readings! Part of achieving the objectives of this assignment is demonstrating your ability to summarize information in your own words to illustrate your understanding.

1. Describe what this research is about. What was the purpose of the study? (2 points)

• Information about a study’s aim/purpose is found in the introduction section of a research paper.

1. State the primary hypothesis. What did the researchers expect to find? (2 points)

• A description of the study’s hypotheses can be found in the introduction section of a research paper, typically towards the end.

1. Did the researchers use an experiment or a correlational design to test the primary hypothesis?  (2 points)

• You should find a description of the research design in the procedure and/or methods sections of the article. Compare this with information from your lecture notes/reading assignments from Week 2 and be sure to describe how you know this article is using experimental/correlational design.

1. Describe one advantage of this research design. (2 points)

• See your lecture notes/readings for the advantages of experiments and correlational studies. Be sure to clearly describe how this relates to the article specifically. 

1. Describe one limitation of this research design. (2 points)

• See your lecture notes/readings for the disadvantages of experiments and correlational studies. Be sure to clearly describe how this relates to the article specifically.

1. Who participated in the study, and how many participants were used? (2 points)

• This information is typically discussed in the procedure or methods section of the article.


• *note: N refers to the number of participants in the study

1. If the researchers used an experimental design, what were the primary independent and dependent variables?  If a correlational design was used, what variables were measured? (2 points)

• See your lecture notes for a description and examples of independent vs. dependent measures.  Sometimes in research articles independent variables are called ‘manipulations’ and dependent measures are called ‘outcome variables’.

1. Describe how the researchers operationalized each primary variable. In other words, how did the researchers measure each variable?  (2 points)

• See your lecture notes and readings for a description and examples of variables and operational definitions.

1. What did the researchers find? Briefly summarize the main results in your own words. (2 points)

• The information you need to answer this question will be located in the Results and/or Discussion sections of the article. You do not need to provide statistical values (remember, researchers always provide an explanation of numerical statistics in plain English!).

10.  Describe one limitation of the study. (2 points)

• This information is usually located in the Discussion section of the paper, often towards the end. Be sure to explain (in your own words!) why this is a limitation/problem with the study.

List of articles you can choose to read and evaluate

All are available in the lecture Blackboard page

1. Aydin, N., Krueger, J. I., Fischer, J., Hahn, D., Kastenmüller, A., Frey, D., & Fischer, P. (2012). “Man's best friend:” how the presence of a dog reduces mental distress after social exclusion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(1), 446-449. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.09.01

1. Barry, A. E., Howell, S. M., Riplinger, A., & Piazza-Gardner, A. K. (2015). Alcohol use among college athletes: Do intercollegiate, club, or intramural student athletes drink differently? Substance use & Misuse, 50(3), 302-307. doi:10.3109/10826084.2014.977398

1. Benka, J., Nagyova, I., Rosenberger, J., Van der Klink, J., Groothoff, J., Van Dijk, J. (2014). Is coping self-efficacy related to psychological distress in early and established rheumatoid arthritis patients? Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 26(3), 285-297. doi:10.1007/s10882-013-9364-y

1. Carpusor, A. G., & Loges, W. E. (2006). Rental discrimination and ethnicity in names. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36(4), 934-952. doi:10.1111/j.0021-9029.2006.00050.x

1. Dorfman, A., Eyal, T., & Bereby-Meyer, Y. (2014). Proud to cooperate: The consideration of pride promotes cooperation in a social dilemma. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 55, 105-109. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2014.06.003

1. Kane, H. S., McCall, C., Collins, N. L., & Blascovich, J. (2012). Mere presence is not enough: Responsive support in a virtual world. Journal of experimental social psychology, 48(1), 37-44.

1. McCarthy, R. J., Coley, S. L., Wagner, M. F., Zengel, B., & Basham, A. (2016). Does playing video games with violent content temporarily increase aggressive inclinations? A pre-registered experimental study. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 67, 13-19. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2015.10.009

1. Musher-Eizenman, D. R., Holub, S. C., Miller, A. B., Goldstein, S. E., & Edwards-Leeper, L. (2004). Body size stigmatization in preschool children: The role of control attributions. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 29(8), 613-620.

1. Stillman, T. F., Baumeister, R. F., Lambert, N. M., Crescioni, A. W., DeWall, C. N., & Fincham, F. D. (2009). Alone and without purpose: Life loses meaning following social exclusion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(4), 686-694. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2009.03.007

10.  Wei, W., Ma, J., & Wang, L. (2015). The ‘warm’ side of coldness: Cold promotes interpersonal warmth in negative contexts. British Journal of Social Psychology, 54(4), 712-727. doi:10.1111/bjso.12108