Psychology 242

Project 2: Experiment

For this project you will design, conduct, and report (in both written and oral form) an experiment. Your experiment will test a hypothesis or investigate a phenomenon from some domain of psychology. Although any topic in psychology is permissible, your experiment must be something that poses “minimal risk” to participants, does not require any personal or sensitive information from participants, and can be completed in a few weeks.

The project is divided into four parts:

• Project 2a – Experiment Proposal
• Project 2b – Turn in all experimental data (Excel, SPSS, or text file)
• Project 2c – Final Paper due (manuscript in APA style as if for submission to a journal)
• Project 2d - Oral Presentation: Powerpoint or web-based presentation (approximately 5 minutes, presented in class)

This project will involve a combination of individual and group work. You will design and conduct the experiment (Project 2a and 2b) in groups of 4. Each group will turn in a single Research Proposal (2a) and data file (2b). Writing the final manuscript (2c) is an individual project. Each person will turn in his or her own paper, and collaborating on the writing process is not permitted (although you are expected to collaborate on data analysis and interpretation before you begin writing). Finally, the oral presentation is a group project – each group will make a single in-class presentation during the last week of class.

For the portions of the project that are group work, your grade will depend on 1) the instructor or TA’s evaluation of the product produced by the group and 2) the instructor’s evaluation of your individual contribution, based largely on the evaluations of your fellow group members. For parts 2a, 2b, and 2d, each group member will turn in a confidential evaluation of the contributions of the other group members. These evaluations will be the primary source of information for the instructor to evaluate each individual’s performance, so it is important that you take very seriously your responsibility in making your evaluations.

Groups will be assigned by the instructor, and only the instructor may change anyone’s group assignment. If serious problems arise (such as a group member who you are unable to contact or who is not contributing to the project) you should contact the instructor immediately.

Project 2a: Experiment Proposal

Each group will turn in a single project proposal. The proposal should be in APA format, with the following modifications (because it is a proposal rather than a report of completed research). Remember that each appendix should begin on a new page.

• Title Page: Your title should be “Project 2a: Experiment Proposal” on the first line, followed by whatever title you want to give your project on a second line. Be sure to list all four authors (everyone in your group) on the title page.
• Abstract: Include an abstract that briefly describes what you propose to do.
• Introduction: No literature review is necessary at this point. You should, however, have at least one reference cited (just as you did in Assignment 3). Your experimental hypothesis should be clearly identified.
• Method: This will be the bulk of your proposal.
• Participants: How many and where will you find them? (Convenience samples, including other students in this class, are ok).
• Materials: Describe the stimuli you will use, and how many of them there will be.
• Design: Identify and operationalize your IV (or IVs) and DV. State whether each IV will be manipulated within-subjects or between-subjects. Tell how many trials there will be for each subject, and how many subjects will be in each condition. (Note: you should aim for 20 subjects per condition, and consider 10 per condition a minimum.)
• Procedure: Describe what participants will do in your experiment, step by step.
• Results: Describe the predicted results of your experiment, and describe the statistical procedures you plan to use to analyze the data.
• Discussion: Identify any possible problems you forsee with your experiment. Ask any questions that you would like feedback on concerning your study – This is where you can directly ask me and the TAs for help with any questions or problems you anticipate.
• References: Use proper APA format for the source(s) you cited in the introduction.
• Appendix A: Assignment of Participants to Conditions – Complete the template provided with these instructions to show exactly what condition each participant will be in for each trial of the experiment. If your design does not fit this template (if you plan to have many trials and randomize the order of conditions across trials, for example) then clearly describe your design in the appendix instead. You should download this file from the course web page and edit the appendices to use in your proposal.
• Appendix B: Informed Consent – Use the template provided with these instructions to create an informed consent document for use with your experiment.
• Appendix C: Informational Feedback (Debriefing) – Write a paragraph or two explaining the purpose of your study. You will give this information to your participants after they complete your experiment.

The ethical and practical guidelines that you were given for Assignment 3 also apply to Project 2. Please review them when you are working on your Project Proposal. You may use one of your group members’ proposal from Assignment 3 as the basis for your project, but you are not required to.

Appendix A: Assignment of Participants to Conditions

(Note: Choose one of the two templates below, add or delete rows and columns as needed, and revise as needed. The italicized information is just an example based on an experiment with 4 conditions and must be replaced with your information. Your experiment may have only one IV rather than 2, and may have fewer or more conditions than this example.)

IV1 = frequency (high, low)

IV2 = length (short, long)

[Template for a within-subjects design]

Definitions of Conditions:

• Condition A = high frequency, short words
• Condition B = high frequency, long words
• Condition C = low frequency, short words
• Condition D = low frequency, long words

Definition of Counterbalancing Groups (The order of conditions in each group)

• Cbgroup a = ABCD
• Cbgroup b = BCDA
• Cbgroup c = CDAB
• Cbgroup d = DABC

Condition for Each Trial for Each Participant

Participant # CBgroup Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4

1 a A B C D

2 b B C D A

3 d D A B C

4 c C D A B

5 b B C D A

6 d D A B C

7 a A B C D

8 c C D A B

[Template for a between-subjects design]

Definitions of Conditions:

• Condition A = high frequency, short words
• Condition B = high frequency, long words
• Condition C = low frequency, short words
• Condition D = low frequency, long words

Condition for Each Participant (and Levels of IVs)

Participant # Condition Frequency Length

1 A high long

2 B high short

3 D low short

4 C low long

5 B high short

6 D low short

7 A high long

8 C low long

Appendix B: Informed Consent

(Note: Delete this note, and insert the relevant information for your study in the blanks.)

CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE IN A COURSE RESEARCH PROJECT

This form asks for your consent to participate in a research study. The study is on the topic of ________________ and is being conducted by ________________ as part of a course research requirement. The general purpose of this research study is to examine issues related to _______________________________________________________. You will be asked to ___________________________________________________.

Please be informed that:

• Your participation in this study is fully voluntary. You have a right to stop participating at any time without any consequences.
• All information that you provide in this study will be kept strictly confidential and any report of the research will not identify you personally in any way.
• At the completion of this study, you will be given a thorough explanation of the purpose and value of this research and why you did what you did in the study.
• Your participation will take no longer than _____.
• In signing this form you certify that you are 18 years of age or older.
• There is a possibility that you may be mislead temporarily as to the exact purpose of the tasks that you have been asked to do in this study. This is because telling you the exact purpose of the study could change the way you respond. We will tell you in more detail what the exact purpose of the tasks are at the end of the study.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask the researcher. If you desire information in the future regarding your participation in this study, please contact the instructor at (773) 325-4799.

Your signature below indicates that you have read the information provided above and agree to participate in this study.

Date_________ Signature_____________________

Printed Name of Participant ___________________

I hereby certify that the above information was read by the participant and that requested explanations concerning the study were given.

Date_________ Signature of Student Researcher ______________________

Project 2a: Evaluation of Group Member Contributions

When working as a group, each group member has a responsibility to contribute his or her share of the work and effort. To help the instructor to evaluate each individual’s contribution, you will provide your own evaluation of each of your fellow group members. You should take this responsibility very seriously, and make your responses accurate and candid. Fill out this evaluation and turn it in separately from your group’s proposal. You may staple a blank page in front of it to make it more confidential when you turn it in, or you may place it under my door before class.

Your Name: _______________________________________ Group # _________

Please list the other members of your group (in alphabetical order) and provide the following two ratings for each of them. Do not include yourself. First, estimate the percentage of the work on Project 2a that each group member contributed. (The total will be less than 100 since you are not including your own contributions.) Next, please grade each of your fellow group members’ effort on Project 2a using the following 4 categories:

• O = outstanding; this person put forth extra effort beyond what was necessary
• S = satisfactory; this person put forth an appropriate amount of effort
• N = needs improvement; this person did not really pull their weight, but they made some effort
• U = unsatisfactory; this person did not contribute at all

Unless there are particular problems, it is expected that most people will be given a rating of “S.” An “N” or “U” should really indicate that a problem exists, and a rating of “O” should be pretty infrequent as well.

Group Member’s Name Percent of work done Effort (O, S, N, or U)

_______________________ ___________ ________

_______________________ ___________ ________

_______________________ ___________ ________

_______________________ ___________ ________

Please describe any particular problems or concerns you have with the way your group is functioning. If everything is OK, leave this blank.

Problems and Comments: _____________________________________________________________