Psy 242 Project 2c

Individual Papers Reporting Results of Group Project Experiment

Instructions and Grading Sheet

Your paper should be a manuscript in APA format that reports the results of your group project experiment. Use the following guidelines to check that you have included all of the necessary information in your paper. A grading sheet is also included in these instructions. Fill in your name and group number at the top, and attach it to your paper (preceding the title page) when you turn it in.

Guidelines for Project 2c

The following sections should appear in this order, and containing the specified information. Everything should be in APA style for a manuscript.

Cover Page

• Title
• Student name – do not include the other group members’ names
• Running head

Abstract

• Topic

• Hypothesis or question addressed
• Method – including IV(s) and DV and task
• Result – what did you find
• Interpretation - was the hypothesis confirmed
• The abstract should be 120 words or fewer

Introduction

• Begins on a new page
• Should not be labeled as “Introduction”
• Should describe the topic and show why it is interesting or important
• Should tell how your study is related to previous work, including at least 2 references

• Should state the hypothesis of the study
• Should briefly describe the logic of the study so that the hypothesis statement makes sense

Method - should include each of the following subsections:

• Participants.
• Number
• Characteristics (such as “DePaul undergraduates”)
• Materials (if appropriate)
• A description of any visual or verbal stimuli you created for the experiment
• If you created verbal materials: A reference to a table with examples of your stimuli or an appendix with your full set of stimuli
• If you created special visual materials: A reference to a figure with an example of one or more of your stimuli, or to an appendix containing all of them


• Design

• The independent variable or variables and how they were operationalized
• Whether each IV was manipulated within or between subjects
• The dependent variable and how it was measured
• The number of trials
• Describe any counterbalancing variables or control variables you may have used. (If you had any within-subjects variables, then you must describe how you counterbalanced the order and sequence effects.)
• Any special instructions (such as instructions that were part of your manipulation of the IV, or that were critical for getting participants to perform the task as you intended).
• Procedure
• A step-by-step account of what instructions were given to a participant and what he or she did in the experient
• There should be sufficient detail that someone could read your procedure section and duplicate exactly what you did in the experiment.

Results

• Should state what the prediction was for each main effect or interaction that you report (restate the hypothesis in terms of the predicted pattern of means in other words). This applies only if you had a prediction – if you are reporting the main effect of a counterbalancing variable, or an effect or interaction you did not predict, then just report the result.
• Should report the means and standard deviations for each condition in the experiment. These can be reported in the text, or in a table or figure. No table or figure is required, but a table is probably the best way to report your data. Simply say “The means for each condition are reported in Table 1” or “see Table 1” or something such as that in the text.
• Only report means for the conditions defined by your IV or IVs – do not include any counterbalancing variables. So if your experiment has one IV with 2 levels, and one counterbalancing variable with 2 levels, report only two means – one for each level of the IV.
• Should report whether the prediction was confirmed (if there was one for that main effect or interaction).
• Should report whether the effect was significant, and correctly report the F for that effect.
• Must use ANOVA to analyze the data. May also use other methods in addition (such as t-tests to do paired comparisons or post-hoc tests in a repeated measures design).
• Report the ANOVA results for each main effect and interaction in your design, even the non-significant ones and even the ones that were not relevant to your hypothesis.

Discussion

• Re-iterate what the prediction was, and whether the results confirmed it
• Interpret the results – what do your findings mean?

• Discuss any limitations or problems you see with your experiment, such as possible confounds and other factors that make you less confident in the results, or factors that might have kept you from finding a significant effect.

References

• Should include all and only the works cited in the text
• Must be in proper APA format

Appendix, Tables, Figures, Figure Captions (in that order)

• Each should start on a new page
• Each should be clearly labeled, such as “Appendix: Experimental Materials,” or “Table 1: Mean Reaction Times.”
• Not required unless needed to present information that is not in the text (such as lengthy stimulus materials)

APA Style and other Formatting Issues

• Double-space everything, including the abstract and references
• Use proper subject headings and subheadings
• Put the sections in the right order
• Check spelling and grammar, and communicate clearly
• Length: You are limited to 10 pages of text, not including references, title page, abstract, appendices, tables or figures. This is not a minimum! There is no minimum length for the paper – longer is not better. Do not exceed the maximum, though.
• Font – use no smaller than a 10 point font

On Time

• Papers turned in to the Blackboard Drop Box by 3pm on the date the paper is due are on time.
• Electronic submissions are required unless special permission is given by the instructor.
• Papers received in hard copy only are at least one day late.
• No papers will be accepted after the last day of class
  
  

Psy 242 Student Name __________________ Score _____

Project 2c Grading Sheet Group Number __________

_______ (1) Cover Page

_______ (7) Abstract

• _______ (1) Topic:
• _______ (1) Hypothesis:
• _______ (1) IV
• _______ (1) DV
• _______ (1) Task:
• _______ (1) Result:
• _______ (1) Interpretation:

_______ (8) Introduction

• _______ (4) background and why interesting/important
• _______ (4) includes 2 relevant references

_______ (20) Method

• _______ (2) Includes appropriate subsections.
• _______ (1) Participants.

· _______ (10) Materials and Design sections

· _______ (7) Procedure

_______ (20) Results

_______ (8) Discussion

_______ (4) References (up to 2 points off for improper formatting)

_______ (15) APA Style, Clarity and Fomatting

· _______ (6) APA style

· _______ (4) Grammar, spelling, and clarity

· _______ (3) Within maximum length, using at least 10 pt font

· _______ (2) Everything double-spaced

_______ (17) On time (-3 per day for late papers or as noted by instructor)

TOTAL: ____________ (100)