Psychology Research Paper

Differentiating Research Designs

Rationale

Psychology relies on a variety of research methods in order to come to a better understanding of behaviour and other phenomena. Most research methods can be classified either as true experiments or as non-experimental designs and it is important for you as a student of psychology to be able to clearly differentiate which type of design is being used in any specific study (for a review of designs, see pp. 43-66 in your textbook). One goal of the term assignment is for you to be able to find different studies relating to a specific topic and identify which type of research method the study uses to address the questions of interest.

A second goal of the assignment is for you to begin using APA (American Psychological Association) format to produce your written papers in the discipline. As part of the assignment, you must create an APA format title page and an APA format reference page. In sum, the assignment for this course will allow you to demonstrate that you can select appropriate research, correctly identify the key methodological elements of that research, and produce a document acceptable to disciplinary standards.

This assignment must be completed entirely by you alone.

Assignment

You will be assigned a specific topic relevant to the Psyc 100 curriculum (see Canvas by the end of the third week of classes). With your assigned topic area in mind, you should read the appropriate section of the textbook to fully understand the scope and parameters of your topic area (many of the topics will only be discussed in class later in the course).

Once you feel that you understand enough about the assigned topic, you will use

PsycINFO® (an abstract database that provides coverage of the psychological literature from the 1800s to the present) to find two empirical (original data collected), peer-reviewed research articles that you understand well enough that you can accurately identify the research designs being used.

One of these articles must be based on a true experiment while the other article must be based on a non-experimental study that examines the same general research hypothesis. [In addition, to ensure that not everyone uses the same articles, there will be further constraints on the articles including limiting them to a specific range of publication dates and requiring that at least one author of the article have a last name starting with a range of specific initials.] You will find your specific topic [with related restrictions] on Canvas by the end of the second week of classes.

Psyc 100D Summer 2018 Assignment Information 2 Step 1. Finding The Articles

An efficient way of finding published research that relates to your topic is to conduct a literature search using PsycINFO®. There are learning modules in Canvas that will provide you with specific instructions on using PsycINFO® to find articles relevant to your specific topic. The articles you use for this assignment must be listed in PsycINFO®– this is a way to ensure the scientific merit of the articles you select – however, you will need to judge whether or not the research reported is empirical or not, and truly experimental or not.

Finding the appropriate articles will be the most difficult part of the assignment – start your research early!

Format Notes: Formatting your Assignment

Nearly all manuscripts and published works in Psychology follow a standard set of conventions outlined by the American Psychological Association (APA). For authors wishing to publish research and students of psychology, these conventions provide a standard format so that ideas can be more accurately communicated. Instruction will be provided in class and you should complete the APA learning module in Canvas.

APA specifies 1 inch (2.54 cm) margins on all sides, double-spacing of all lines (title page and reference page included), 12-point Times (Times New Roman) font, and single-sided printed pages for manuscripts. Please do not use any document covers.

Step 2. Submission of Assignment

Once you have found two empirical articles (one true, one non-experimental) that meet the criteria you were assigned you will need obtain copies of the first page of each article and the pages from each of the articles that you will be annotating (see below). These pages can either be actual physical copies or electronic (viz., PDF) copies.

The pages from the articles that you submit will include your annotations (labels and highlighting or underlining) – these annotations will indicate the evidence supporting your judgment that the article is reporting a true experiment (or non-experimental) design assessing the same general research hypothesis. Your careful and concise annotation will guide the reader to the evidence in support of your claim that you have selected an appropriate article – highlighting or underlining excessive material demonstrates poor understanding of the content.

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Psyc 100D Summer 2018 Assignment Information 3 Submission Alternatives:
You can choose one of the following two options to submit your assignment.
All Electronic Submission

If you’ve chosen to annotate electronic copies of your articles then these will be part what you will submit via Canvas (see this link https://goo.gl/KgF5Jy for information regarding annotating PDF files).

Your submission to Canvas will include:

· an APA-formatted title page (see Canvas for an example) listing your name, student number, and your tutor/marker’s (TM’s) name

· PDF files including the relevant pages of your two selected articles with appropriate annotations

· a reference page which includes APA-formatted references for your two articles. Your in-class submission will include:

· an APA-formatted title page (see Canvas for an example) listing your name, student number, and your tutor/marker’s (TM’s) name

· the paper copies of the relevant pages of your two selected articles with appropriate annotations

· a reference page which includes APA-formatted references for your two articles. This submission to Canvas will include:

· an APA-formatted title page (see Canvas for an example) listing your name, student number, and your tutor/marker’s (TM’s) name

· a reference page which includes APA-formatted references for your two articles.