Before you start filling this page in, you need to make a copy of this document. Please follow the instructions on pp. 2-3 carefully. This is a multi-step process, and all of these steps must be completed correctly for your Lab Manual to be usable. Once you have your copy, you can delete this block of red text.

 

PSY 301 Lab Manual

Term: Fall 2020

Name: Christian Ramos

Email address: [email protected]

 

 

 

 

Note This is a new edition of the PSY 301 Lab Manual. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there has been less time than expected to work on this. If you find errors or if something is unclear, please let me know by posting in the Q&A.

Quarantined regards,
Dr. Christopher Collins & TAs

Getting Started

Each week, there is a Lab assignment due on Canvas. Follow the instructions below to make a copy of this Lab Manual. Once you have your own copy, you will complete these assignments by typing your answers directly into this document.

Making and Sharing Your Lab Manual
Copy This Document. Start by making yourself a copy of this document and sharing it.
1. Check the upper right corner, above the Share button to make sure that you are logged into Google Docs with your OSU account.
2. Go to File > Make a copy…
3. Rename the document: F20 YourLastName – PSY 301 Lab Manual
4. Share the document with the course graders.
a. Copy and paste your instructor’s email address ([email protected]) in the box below “People”
b. Copy and paste your TA’s email address ([email protected] [if in Section 400] or [email protected] [if in Section 401]) in the box below “People”. Do NOT send it to both, check your section via the “People” page on Canvas or your class schedule!
c. Set your instructor’s and TA’s access to “Can edit”
Fill in the cover. Now that you have your own copy of the Lab Manual, fill in your information on the cover.
1. Enter your first and last name. If you have a preferred name that is different from your name as it appears on Canvas, put it in parentheses.
● E.g., if your name is Jacob Smith and you go by J.T., enter: Jacob (J.T.) Smith
2. Enter your OSU email address.

Open the document outline. The document outline allows you to navigate your Lab Manual quickly and easily. To make it visible, go to View > Show document outline. The outline should now be to the left of the document. Click any of those headings to jump to that section of the Lab Manual.

Using Your Lab Manual
Each Lab is a step toward your final project. Having all of them in this document will make it much easier to keep track of what you’ve done, feedback you’ve received, etc. As you complete each lab, it will be useful to have the corresponding rubric open in Canvas (in the assignment, below the instructions) so you can see how it will be graded.

Preserve the formatting and numbering of this document. You are welcome to highlight, add comments, mark steps as complete (e.g., by adding a ✓), etc.
● Leave the original questions in your document, unless instructed otherwise.
● If you hold SHIFT while you hit ENTER, it will add space without messing up the question numbering.
● If you hold SHIFT when you Ctrl+V (or right-click and select “paste without formatting”), you can paste text without carrying over formatting from the original source.

This document contains a lot of valuable resources. All blue underlined text is hyperlinked. Clicking these links will direct you to related external resources or locations within your lab manual. Things that are hyperlinked within the lab manual can also be accessed using the document outline. You can have your lab manual open in multiple windows so that you can reference one part while working on another (e.g., looking at feedback on your previous Reference list submission while checking your new version).

Tip! Look for boxes like this for answers to frequently asked questions, help troubleshooting common problems, etc.

This document will be a valuable source of feedback. If a grader makes “suggestions” (edits) in your Lab Manual, you can click ✓ to accept them (they’ll be added to your document for you) or X to reject them (their work is deleted). If you click the wrong thing, you can Ctrl+Z to undo that action. Leaving them as-is for reference is also an option. Likewise, whether you resolve comments is up to you. If you do not resolve comments/edits, it’s easy to revisit that feedback so you don’t repeat your previous errors.

Google Docs automatically saves every few minutes. If you’re nervous about it not saving, you can always Ctrl+S to force save. If you want to be able to work on your assignments offline, install the “Backup and Sync” program. If you do work offline, this program will automatically update the file in Google Drive when you connect to the internet.
To learn more about Google Docs, visit the G Suite Learning Center: Get started with Docs.

 

Overview and Timeline for Final Project
The labs are a set of progressive and interlocking assignments that will culminate in the visual (poster) and written (final paper) presentation of data you collect, analyze, interpret, and report according to the requirements of APA style. This project must be done carefully, ethically, and with each step completed before moving on to the next—missed assignments will put you in danger of failing the course.

Data Analysis. You will need to conduct basic descriptive statistics and conduct one or more hypothesis tests (e.g., ANOVA, t-test, chi-square) for your final project. These analyses should be familiar to you from your prior required statistics course(s). You may use any statistical package you are familiar with.

Timeline. Each week’s Lab Assignment builds towards your final project.

Week 1 Begin reviewing options for your final project. Learn how to find sources.
Week 2 Select a topic for your final project.
Week 3 Refine decisions from Week 2. Make major decisions about hypotheses, variables, measurement, and possible confounds (especially those related to online administration). Begin practicing APA style for Reference lists.
Week 4 Apply ethical considerations by creating informed consent and debriefing documents for your project. Finalize any design considerations that have not been settled to this point.
Week 5 Use previous feedback to solidify final decisions regarding methodology, create your materials in Google Forms (recommended) or Qualtrics, and draft the Methods section of your final paper. Continue working on APA-style References.
Week 6 Collect data. Think carefully about how well controlled your experiment was, and identify possible confounds. Create your title page. Use prior labs to draft the introduction to your final paper.
Week 7 Analyze data. Think about what the descriptive statistics tell you — what is the general pattern of results? Think about what the inferential statistics show you — was your hypothesis confirmed?
Week 8 Draft the Results and Discussion sections of your final paper. Draft your poster.
Week 9 Draft the Abstract of your final paper. Assemble your entire paper. Use feedback on all prior related assignments to revise your paper. Participate in the poster session; use feedback to revise your poster.
Week 10 Revise, prepare, and submit your revised poster. Revise, prepare, and submit your final paper. Pay close attention to Dr. Collins’ Manuscript Checklist and the Final Paper Scoring Rubric!

Lab 1: Using the OSU Library Online

Reminder: Please preserve the formatting and numbering of this document.

Finding scholarly sources is critical to your success in this course. This lab assignment will teach you how to search for sources, how to access those available through the library or online, and how to request access to those you do not have access to. Additionally, we will touch on how to assess the quality/appropriateness of a source (see also Appendix B: Article Help).

PsycNET is a great tool for searching through the psychology literature. Another tool I like to use is Google Scholar. Although Google Scholar does not allow you to restrict your search by discipline, it is able to find PDFs from all over the Web (not just those in library databases).

Tip! Google Scholar will give you a preformatted APA-style reference! While these are usually correct, you must double-check both the content and the formatting, and add the DOI yourself. For more info on why Google Scholar is awesome and tips for how to use it more effectively, see Google Scholar: The Ultimate Guide.

 

Part 1: Get Ready!
1. Familiarize yourself with the OSU Library.
a. Browse the Ecampus Library Services page.
b. Read all the tabs of the Subject guide for Research Methods.

2. If you have not done so already, register with Inter-Library Loan (ILL).

3. Learn how to conduct an advanced search in the APA PsycNET database.

4. Link your OSU Library account to Google Scholar.
a. Go to scholar.google.com.
b. Make sure you’re logged in.
c. Follow along with this guide provided by our library.

5. Learn how to take a screenshot. (Please, never take a picture of your screen with your phone!) You will be pasting a lot of screenshots into this lab. Depending on which method you use, you may need to crop and resize to make your images legible.

Once you are logged in through our library, you will have immediate access to most of the journal articles you will want for this course. Anything you do not have immediate access to can be requested through ILL. You should not pay for access to articles; your student fees already cover this.

If you are having trouble accessing library resources, please try *Ecampus Library Services > Troubleshooting Tips.

 

Part 2: Searching…
Now that you’re all set up, we will use PsychNET to conduct a search. Follow along with these videos and enter your answers below each question.
● PSY 301 – Lab 1, Part 2 (1 of 2)
● PSY 301 – Lab 1, Part 2 (2 of 2)

1. Log into the APA PsycNET database.

2. Enter one of the following search terms.
● impression formation
● smartphone addiction
● chronotype
● nontraditional student

Fill in the blanks with the number of results and the search term you used.
508 Results for Any Field: smartphone addiction

Hereafter, this line will be referred to as your “results and search criteria.”

3. Use the same search term but restrict it in two ways that you learned from reading the advanced search tutorial. Copy and paste your results and search criteria.

83 Results for Any Field: smartphone addiction AND Any Field: young adult

4. Continue to expand or limit your search until you get between 40 and 60 results. As you do this, keep a count of how many searches you do.
a. Copy and paste your results and search criteria.

60 Results for Any Field: smartphone addiction AND Any Field: young adult AND Year: 2017 To 9999

b. How many combinations did you have to try?

3

5. Use the “Check local holdings” button to find an article (not a book, dissertation, etc.) that you do not have full-text access to. If you are struggling to find an article that is not available, you may need to change your search criteria.
a. Copy and paste your results and search criteria.

60 Results for Any Field: smartphone addiction AND Any Field: young adult AND Year: 2017 To 9999

b. Copy and paste the link from the OSU Library catalog (the page showing that this article is not immediately available). Or, if it says “no records found,” take a screenshot.

https://alliance-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/openurl?sid=APA&url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft.atitle=%E2%80%9Ca%20cancer%20in%20the%20minds%20of%20youth%3F%E2%80%9D%20a%20qualitative%20study%20of%20problematic%20smartphone%20use%20among%20undergraduate%20students.&rft.aufirst=Zeyang&rft.aulast=Yang&rft.date=2019-12&rft.epage=No%20Pagination%20Specified&rft.spage=No&rft_id=info:doi%2F10.1007%2Fs11469-019-00204-z&rft.jtitle=International%20Journal%20of%20Mental%20Health%20and%20Addiction&rft.issn=1557-1874&rft.eissn=1557-1882&rft.genre=article&rft.pid=2019-80488-001&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi%2Ffmt:kev:mtx:journal&vid=OSU&institution=OSU&url_ctx_val=&url_ctx_fmt=null&isSerivcesPage=true

Now, we are going to conduct a search in Google Scholar.

6. Use Google Scholar to search for the article from Question 5.
a. Link your search results here.

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=%E2%80%9CA+Cancer+in+the+Minds+of+Youth%3F%E2%80%9D+A+Qualitative+Study+of+Problematic+Smartphone+Use+among+Undergraduate+Students&btnG=

b. Copy and paste the APA-style reference. Correct any errors, and add the DOI. For help, see Appendix C: APA Help.

Yang, Z., Asbury, K., & Griffiths, M. D. (2019). “A cancer in the minds of youth?” A qualitative study of problematic smartphone use among undergraduate students. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 1-13.

7. Click the “Cited by” link under the result from Question 6.
a. Find one article that you have access to through Google Scholar, but not through the library. Replace this example with a screenshot of that result.

b. Find one article that you do not have access to at all. Replace this example with a screenshot of that result.

8. Search the OSU Library catalog for the article from Question 7b. Copy and paste the link to that search result. Or, if there are zero results, take a screenshot.

 

9. Use Inter-Library Loan (ILL) to request the article from Question 7b. You will not get credit for requesting an item through ILL if that item is already available in the library catalogue. If you already have access to it, you shouldn’t be asking someone to go find it for you.

Replace this example with a screenshot of your request.

 

10. Read “Measure Journal Impact” and follow the instructions at the bottom of the page to find the impact factor of the journal that published the article you requested from ILL.

Tip! If you are unable to find your journal in JCR, check that you are searching for the journal title — not a book, chapter, dissertation, article, etc. In 90% of cases when a student can’t find their journal, it’s because they weren’t searching for a journal.

a. What is the name of the journal?

International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
b. Replace this example with a screenshot of the InCites page for that journal.

c. What do these results tell you? When choosing sources for your paper, how will you use impact factors?

The results tell me that the journal has a good impact factor, which is a good indicator as to how I should choose the journals when conducting research activity.

 

Part 3: Correct the Reference Errors
APA style references follow a very specific format, with which many students struggle. In this assignment, you will learn how to format a reference for a journal article. To assist you in this and future “References” activities, all of the information you will need has been aggregated in Appendix C: APA Help, under the “APA-Style References” subheading.

1. Complete this exercise: What’s wrong with this journal article reference? When you are done, take a screenshot (please, never take a picture of your screen with your phone) showing your score, and the date and time. Replace this example with your screenshot.

 

2. Below is a sample Reference list that contains multiple errors. Correct every error to submit a Reference list that is consistent with APA style. (Make corrections to this list directly.)

Tip! In addition to the text, also consider the spacing, alignment, and order of the referenced items. For examples of what a complete APA-style references page should look like, see p. 535 of your textbook.

References

Smith, Fred R., and Small, Sarah M. 2013. The laughing cure: how to make yourself healthier and happier. Journal of the American Medical Association, 45, pp. 154-156. Do: 123456789112x

John H. Apfel, and Woo, Lorelie and Janesh, Amal. J. 2010 How To Make A Million Bucks Writing Papers. Health Psychology, pp. 25-29, Vol. 18, Issue 2. Doi: 123456789111x

Shumaker, S. M., & Franks, M. E., & Vitolins, M.Q. 1999 Journal of Social Psychology. Heart disease and Social Support: A Literature Review. Vol. 25, Issue 4. Pp. 21. DOI: 123456789xxx.

Lab 2: Topic Selection and Refinement

Throughout this course, you will be working toward a final project on a topic of your choice. This project includes designing an experiment, collecting and analyzing data,and presenting your results in an APA-style research manuscript and an academic poster.

Your first tasks in this project are to choose a topic (Part 1) and carefully read and summarize a related article (Part 2). Next, read two more articles on your topic to find methods that you can potentially use in your project (Part 3). Finally, you will use what you read to refine and further develop your topic (Part 4). After completing this exercise, you should be ready to work on a library search for additional sources.

All of the articles you use for this assignment must be closely related to the research project you are going to conduct. For example, they should provide background information on your topic (Part 2) or employ a method that you would like to use (Part 3).

Tip! Since this lab has several parts that build on each other, it’s a good idea to read through the whole lab before you start working on it.

Part 1: Decide on the General Topic You Would Like to Research
Please select one of the following general topics for your project. Highlight the topic you would like to study.

General Topic (Part 1) Suggested Target Article (Part 2)
1. The effect of different types of music on learning. The Influence of Background Music on Learning In The Light of Different Theoretical Perspectives and the Role of Working Memory Capacity (Lehman & Seufert, 2017)

2. The effect of social media photo characteristics on impression formation.
Beware of Selfies: The Impact of Photo Type on Impression Formation Based on Social Networking Profiles (Krämer et al., 2017)

3. Non-traditional students (see definition here, pp. 2-3) and the spotlight effect.
The Minority Spotlight Effect (Crosby et al., 2014)

4. The relationship between chronotype (being a morning person vs. an evening person) and some aspect of well-being.
Timing of Examinations Affects School Performance Differently in Early and Late Chronotypes (van der Vinne et al., 2014)

5. Factors that predict smartphone addiction. I Need My Smartphone: A Hierarchical Model of Personality and Cell-Phone Addiction (Roberts, et al., 2015)

If none of these options appeal to you, you may generate your own topic. Please keep in mind that generating a topic that is both interesting to you and feasible to study within the constraints of this course is very challenging and time consuming. See Topic Criteria for requirements, and type your proposed topic here: Factors that predict smartphone addiction.

 

Part 2: Summarize Your Target Article
Before you start this part, please read Appendix B: Article Help thoroughly.

Next, choose a peer-reviewed original research article (i.e., a journal article in which new research is presented — not a review article or meta-analysis, not a popular media piece) on the topic you chose/proposed above. This will be your target article.

If you have elected to use one of the pre-selected topics in Part 1, you can either use the corresponding target article from the table above, or you can find your own target article. If you are looking for your own target article, it must be published within the last 10 years and from a journal with an impact factor greater than 1.

Tip! The study you conduct for your final project should be an extension of your target article. The authors of your target articles reported some finding. Ask yourself, “What additional questions does this finding raise?” and, “How can you conduct an experiment to investigate one of these questions?”

Read and summarize your target article as indicated below. Be sure to put the information in your own words; do not plagiarize and do not quote directly. Summarizing this article is a first and crucial step toward creating the introduction to your final paper.

APA-Style reference for your target article (see APA-Style References):

Abstract:
● Read the abstract carefully, paying close attention to the topic, method, results, and conclusion emphasized by the author. (Nothing to write here.)

Introduction:
1. What is the research question being addressed? Why is it important?

The question is addressed quite extensively throughout the article, “I need my smartphone: A hierarchical model of personality and cell-phone addiction”. It covers the many traits that contribute to smartphone addiction. This is important as it lists out the contributors to addiction and how each contributes based on an individual’s susceptibility to the specific trait.

2. How does the current study fit in with past research (i.e., in what way is this study adding to or changing our current knowledge)?

The study shows how certain traits contribute to smartphone addiction. This shows that some individuals more than others are more susceptible to addition based on certain traits.

3. What are the variables in question? Include all of the variables the authors considered.

There are personality traits that were identified or focused as main contributors to addiction. Those variables were seen as variables that determined a low or high level of addiction. Those variables were impulsiveness, agreeability, extraversion, need for arousal, emotional instability and materialism.

4. What is the hypothesis? In other words, what relationship between variables do the authors predict?

Certain traits where hypothesized to be positively associated with addiction. These traits were extraversion, need for arousal, emotional instability, materialism and impulsiveness. These were seen as influential traits that contribute to cell phone addiction.

Method:
1. What materials are being used to measure and/or present the variables? This is known as operationalizing the variables. If there is a specific test that they are using, name it (e.g., “the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale”).

The study used “Mowen’s 3M Hierarchical Model of Personality”.

2. What are participants doing?

It was a 10-15 min survey.

 

 

 

Results:
1. What were/was the hypothesis test(s) used to analyze the data?

“Mowen’s Hierarchical Model Of Personality” was used to hypothesis potential study outcome.

2. Which results were statistically significant (p < .05)? Which were not significant (n.s.)?

Significant results of the study show that traits of emotional instability, materialism and need for arousal. Results shown as not significant where agreeable, open to experience and conscientiousness.

3. Which hypotheses were supported? Which were refuted? Match the p-values to the hypotheses (listed Introduction, Question 4) to determine which hypotheses were supported and which were not.

The hypotheses that were supported by the study were emotional instability to cell phone addiction was significant, also introversion, materialism and impulsiveness supported the thesis as significant.

General Discussion:
1. What was the overall conclusion of the study (i.e., what do the results mean)? Summarize the key findings in a single sentence.

Personality traits directly influence the outcome of cell phone addiction with individuals,

2. Why are these findings important? Why are they interesting?

They are important are they identify the contributors to cell phone addiction, pointing them out which creates awareness in our society. It is interesting to know how we are susceptible and it provides a starting point where one can assess our own personal traits and avoid or limit the negative effects.

3. What were the limitations of the study?

The sample size is limited, it was only conducted on the student body of one University. It would provide a more accurate sample size if it can be replicated in Universities across the United States. I don’t think this was an adequate sample size of our population.

4. What are the ideas for future research? What questions are left unanswered?

One idea would be to attempt to replicate this study on a much larger population which would help to provide a more accurate study. It also provided a better understanding of where future studies need to focus on. How personality traits contribute to cell phone addiction.

5. Finally, in one sentence, what is this article about?

The study of the personal traits that contribute and make one more susceptible to cell phone addiction.

Part 3: Summarize the Methods Sections of Two Other Articles
As you read more articles on your topic, pay special attention to the Methods sections. Look for ideas that you may be able to use in your own research. For example, if one of the variables you want to study is introversion, note how the researchers quantified this variable.

Tip! Ask yourself: (1) What materials (e.g., measures, instruments) did they use? (2) Do you have access to these materials? (3) Would it be possible/reasonable to administer them online? Do not use articles based on methods you do not have access to (e.g., fMRI).

Choose two articles with methods you may be able to adapt for your study, and report the following, again summarizing in your own words:

APA-Style reference for the first article:

Method for the first article:
1. What materials are being used to measure and/or present the variables?

2. What are participants doing?

 

APA-Style reference for the second article:

Method for the second article:
1. What materials are being used to measure and/or present the variables?

2. What are participants doing?

Part 4: Decide on the Specific Topic You Would Like to Research
Use what you learned from the three articles you summarized above to refine the topic you chose in Part 1. Include enough info for me to be able to evaluate whether your topic is appropriate and whether your project will be feasible. This should take 1-3 sentences, and must include the variables you will investigate and how you will manipulate (IV) or measure (quasi-IV, DV) each of them. If you’ve found measure(s) you want to use, link them.

If you’re feeling stuck, please see Choosing a Specific Topic.

Tip! Two good places to look for measures are PsychNET’s PsycTESTS database (see
Lab 1) and the Measurement Instrument Database for the Social Sciences (MIDSS). If you are interested in a personality variable, such as one of the “Big Five”, you can almost certainly find a suitable measure in the International Personality Item Pool.

Additional Guidelines:
(See Topic Criteria for further explanation.)
1. Your project must be related to psychology.
2. Your project cannot be a direct replication.
3. You cannot make your participants uncomfortable.
4. Participating in your study cannot take more than 10 minutes.
5. You must be able to conduct this study online.
6. You must have a categorical independent variable and a dependent variable.
7. You must be able to find at least six supporting articles.

Replace the example below. You are welcome to use what is already here and switch out the parts with the info for your study.

I would like to research the relationship of the impact on anxiety and depression among teenagers that use social media. To measure the anxiety and depression I will use screen time to see how it correlates to increased leaves of anxiety and depression among teenagers.

Updated research topic:
I would like to research the relationship of the impact on anxiety among teenagers that use social media. To measure the anxiety, I will use the 9-item Social Media Disorder (SMD) Scale to see how it correlates to increased leaves of anxiety among teenagers.

Proposed topic: I want to research the relationship between nontraditional college student status (quasi-IV) and perceived stress (DV). Students will be grouped as traditional versus nontraditional students based on the NCES criteria. To measure perceived stress, I will use the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS).

Lab 3: Library Research, References in APA Style, Hypothesis Generation

Now that you have chosen a topic and target article, the next step of this process toward your final manuscript is finding related research that you will summarize in the Introduction section of your paper. The goal is to put the information from these articles together in such a way that your study is the next logical step.

This assignment for Week 3 has four parts:
1. Finding and summarizing five articles
2. Drafting your Reference list in APA style
3. Generating a hypothesis for your study
4. Using those article summaries to explain your hypothesis

Note Do not continue with your project until you have received feedback on Lab 2 indicating that your specific topic has been approved. If you work on your labs/project without an approved topic, you may end up having to redo a lot of that work.

Part 1: Five Article Reviews
Now that you’re getting pretty good at using PsycNET and/or Google Scholar to find sources, it’s time to find more sources for your project! Use Appendix B: Article Help to select five peer-reviewed articles that are related to the topic of your research project; you may reuse articles from Lab 2, but you cannot use your target article. These sources can be articles that report specific studies (primary sources) or review articles (secondary sources). You must read each article carefully before completing this assignment.

For this assignment, your summaries are focused on the methods and results. However, keep in mind that other aspects of the paper (particularly the Discussion) will help you understand what the findings mean in the context of the larger body of research and theories surrounding this subject. This understanding will be critical for writing the introduction of your paper.

Continue to look for measures that you can use in your own project.

Tip! Be careful about the words you choose. Words that are commonly misused in this assignment include correlation, affect/effect, and prove.
● Correlation does not simply mean “relationship.” It is a specific kind of relationship wherein you have two continuous variables (e.g., height and weight) and you can use someone’s score on one variable to predict their score on the other variable (e.g., based on U.S. national averages, if you know that someone is 5’9″, you would predict that they weigh 198 lbs.).
● Effect is always a noun. If it’s a verb, it’s affect. When used as a noun, affect means emotion. For help remembering this, read this comic from The Oatmeal.
● As discussed in Chapter 1 of your textbook, “The word prove is not used in science,” (Morling, 2018, p. 15). If you want to, you can read more about the misuse of prove/proof in this article from Forbes: Scientific Proof is a Myth.

Additionally, be wary of first person pronouns. They come across as informal unless delivered with your hypothesis, or clearly being tied to a decision you made.

For each of your five articles:
1. Article: Identify the article by its authors and year of publication. For example: Borowitz and Ching (2012)
2. Summary: Write a 4- to 5-sentence summary of the main findings in your own words. You will use these summaries in later labs, so future-you will thank you for doing a good job (i.e., being detailed, using professional and clear language) now!
3. Relationship: Write a 4- to 5-sentence description of how this article is related to the specific topic you have chosen. Does it elude to how one variable affects the other? What questions/ideas are raised that fit into your original research question? How does it affect your thinking about the subject? How does it contribute toward your hypothesis? What does it tell you in regard to your method?

Review 1:
1. Article: Dobrean, A., & Pasarelu, C. (2016). Impact of social media on social anxiety: A systematic review. New Developments in Anxiety Disorders. https://doi.org/10.5772/65188

2. Summary: The article exhibited mixed findings about the relationship between social anxiety and use of Facebook. One of the findings is that there exists a remarkable association between use of face book and social networking. For instance, the article established that Facebook use was negatively associated with teenage Facebook users. Another finding is the number of hours a teenage spent on Facebook per day was associated with individuals’ level of social anxiety.

3. Relationship: The article is positively related to the topic of the study since it address the connection between the use of Facebook and social anxiety among adolescents. The article has clearly explained the connection between adolescent Facebook users and social anxiety and found both negative and positive impacts of social media addition. One of the questions raised in the article is whether Facebook usage among adolescents does more harm than benefit. The article provides more insight and provokes positive thinking towards the topic of research such smartphone and social anxiety.

Review 2:
1. Article: Calancie, O., Ewing, L., Narducci, L. D., Horgan, S., & Khalid-Khan, S. (2017). Exploring how social networking sites impact youth with anxiety: A qualitative study of Facebook stressors among adolescents with an anxiety disorder diagnosis. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 11(4). https://doi.org/10.5817/cp2017-4-2

2. Summary: The article found out that teenagers suffering from anxiety disorder have poor problem solving skills, low esteem and high desire to be accepted which leads to stressors when using network sites. Majority of the teenagers who are seemingly addicted to smart phones spend most of their hours on sites such as Facebook. The findings from the article indicate that there are several mechanism which social media sites lead to negative online experiences among teenagers. Besides, majority of the teenagers addicted to the use of smart phones compare themselves to their peers on social media which leads to increased social anxiety and personal conflict.

3. Relationship: Social media use strongly correlates to the development of anxiety disorders among teenage users. Teenagers who are addicted to the use of social media were observed to be suffering from disorders such as low esteem and poor problem skills, which are related to anxiety.

Review 3:
1. Article: Keles, B., McCrae, N., & Grealish, A. (2019). A systematic review: The influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 25(1), 79-93. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2019.1590851

2. Summary: The article acknowledges the inextricability of smart phones and social media in the modern life, but blamed its mental destructions among teenagers. The authors discusses the influence of social media, which is closely related to smart phone addiction and psychological distress, anxiety and depression among adolescents. However, the article purports that due to limitations associated with various mechanisms used in conducting psychology related studies, there should be further exploration on the topic such as longitudinal cohort studies for this topic. The findings were categorized into four main domains namely; addiction, activity, time spent and investment.

3. Relationship: The article fails to clearly bring the relationship between time spent on social media and anxiety. On the contrary, the authors note that both passive and active Facebook teenage users suffer increased frequency of depression. Further, the article establishes that investment in online social sites was linked to increased mental problems among teenagers. There is a high connection between Facebook use and anxiety among the young users.

Review 4:
1. Article: Article: Karim, F., Oyewande, A., Abdalla, L. F., Chaudhry Ehsanullah, R., & Khan, S. (2020). Social media use and its connection to mental health: A systematic review. Cureus, 12(6), e8627. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.8627

2. Summary: The article mentions that smart phone addiction among teenagers is responsible for aggravating their mental disorders. The authors note that major signs of anxiety and depression is notable among the teenagers who spend many hours on social media. Female adolescents were found to be addicted to social media more than their male counterparts and were hence more likely to suffer from depression. Additionally, interpersonal trust plays a significant role in influencing anxiety symptoms among teenagers addicted to the use of smart phones.

3. Relationship: The article directly links the use of social media to anxiety among teenagers. Female teens were found to be more vulnerable to mental disorders related to the use of social media than their male counterparts.

Review 5:
1. Article: Kim, Y., Jeong, J. E., Cho, H., Jung, D. J., Kwak, M., Rho, M. J., … & Choi, I. Y. (2016). Personality factors predicting smartphone addiction predisposition: Behavioral inhibition and activation systems, impulsivity, and self-control. PloS one, 11(8), e0159788.

2. Summary: The article notes that smartphone addiction is linked to various mental disorders among both teenagers and adults. The study indicates that women are more prone to smart phone and social media addiction than men. The situation is linked to women’s preference to use smart phones for social purposes as opposed to men. Consequently, they are also more likely to experience problems related to social media and smartphones that men.

3. Relationship: The study notes that addiction to social media often leads to anxiety among teenage users. Addiction is associated with low self-control and impulsivity, characters that expose the social media teenage users to mental disorders.

 

Part 2: Reference List First Draft
Using APA style, create an APA-style reference list that includes all your articles (the 3 articles from Lab 2 plus those from Part 1).

Tip! You will continue to correct and add to this list throughout the quarter. With each revision, make sure that you check for feedback on your previous submission (e.g., Lab 2) so you don’t keep losing points for the same mistakes.

 

Type your References list here:

Kim, Y., Jeong, J. E., Cho, H., Jung, D. J., Kwak, M., Rho, M. J., … & Choi, I. Y. (2016). Personality factors predicting smartphone addiction predisposition: Behavioral inhibition and activation systems, impulsivity, and self-control. PloS one, 11(8), e0159788.

Calancie, O., Ewing, L., Narducci, L. D., Horgan, S., & Khalid-Khan, S. (2017). Exploring how social networking sites impact youth with anxiety: A qualitative study of Facebook stressors among adolescents with an anxiety disorder diagnosis. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 11(4). https://doi.org/10.5817/cp2017-4-2

Keles, B., McCrae, N., & Grealish, A. (2019). A systematic review: The influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 25(1), 79-93. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2019.1590851

Dobrean, A., & Pasarelu, C. (2016). Impact of social media on social anxiety: A systematic review. New Developments in Anxiety Disorders. https://doi.org/10.5772/65188

Karim, F., Oyewande, A., Abdalla, L. F., Chaudhry Ehsanullah, R., & Khan, S. (2020). Social media use and its connection to mental health: A systematic review. Cureus, 12(6), e8627. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.8627

Part 3: Moving From Question to Hypothesis
In this part, you will summarize important background information about your project and identify your variables. Replace the examples below.
1. What is the research question you would like to answer?
● Is the use of social media among teenagers linked to anxiety?

2. Identify any named theories, models, hypotheses, effects, etc. related to this topic. Cite your source(s). If your topic does not have any of these things, write “N/A”.
● The five factor model (FFM) of personality (Keles, McCrae, & Grealish, 2019).

3. What is your hypothesis? What is the predicted relationship between variables? Remember, your hypothesis must be testable and falsifiable – the results of your research will either support your hypothesis or refute it. (Help: “Forming a Good Hypothesis”)
● Teenagers addicted to the use of social media are more likely to experience anxiety than those are not addicts.

4. What are the variables in your study? Your measure must yield a single DV score for each participant. If you use a measure that outputs multiple scores, you will need to choose one.
● Categorical independent variable: Social media teenage users
o IV levels (i.e., what are your groups/conditions?): yes, no
● Additional independent variable(s): None
● Dependent variable: anxiety disorders
o Measure (with link, if available): 9-item Social Media Disorder (SMD) Scale
o Scale: Quantitative

5. Considering your answers to Question 4, what kind of hypothesis test are you going to use? (For help, see Appendix D: Stats Help.)
● Independent-samples t test

Part 4: Summary of Research Premises and Materials
Now that you have a hypothesis, you need to begin to use the literature you read in Part 1 of this assignment to develop an argument for that hypothesis. In this part, you will write a few paragraphs that will serve as a starting point for the introduction section of your final research paper (see pp. 507-510 of your textbook). Use concise wording and a professional tone (i.e., emulate the language of the articles you’ve reviewed) so you can reuse this text.

Remember, do not quote or copy material directly from the text of the articles. Everything should be summarized in your own words and the original sources should be cited every time they are used. Be sure to reference (and cite!) each article at least once.

Tip! Think about how your responses to Questions 1-4 will tie together to introduce your topic and experiment. Putting the questions together, you get:

(1) This topic is important to study because reasons. Previous researchers did this and this and this and found these results. (2) More specifically, more detailed explanation of research. Based on this research, researchers concluded that this thing affects this other thing because reasons. (3) Given this explanation of these findings, I expect IV to exert this effect on DV because reasons. (4) To test whether IV exerts this effect on DV, I am going to use these materials to measure these things.

1. Introduce this general area of research (1 paragraph). Broadly introduce your topic and the variables it contains. Why does it matter? Provide a 1- to 2-sentence summary of all of the research you reviewed. Do not discuss the articles in detail; save that for Question 2.

Studies show that social media addiction among teenagers leads to anxiety and depression.

2. Summarize what is currently known about this area of research (2-3 paragraphs). Describe the evidence that led to your hypothesis. Put those bits of information from the different articles together to tell a coherent story. Explain the proposed mechanics behind the observed relationships (i.e., how one variable might affect the other). To do this, reference the explanations given by the authors of the articles you summarized; include named theories/hypotheses/etc.

Smart phones and social media plays a crucial role in the modern life. However, their mental effects, especially among the youths, are devastating (Keles, McCrae, & Grealish, 2019). Karim, et al (2020) indicates that those teenagers who spend many hours on social media are at a higher risk of developing anxiety that those who hardly use the sites. Parental guidance when using the social media can avert the adverse effects among teenagers.
Female social media users are more susceptible than their male counterparts. Kim et al (2016) links the situation to the fact that women largely use smart phones for social purposes as opposed to men. However, both genders are at risk of suffering mental disorders since passive and active use of social media is linked to anxiety (Keles, McCrae & Grealish, 2019). Reducing the number of hours spent of social media can considerably reduce the effect.

3. Identify some deficiency in the literature (1 paragraph). Is there a methodological shortcoming or missing control variable? Are findings mixed? What would the addition of the control variable do, or which set of findings are stronger? Describe your rational conclusion, as it relates to the research discussed in your answer to Question 2. In other words, what is your hypothesis? Why do you expect this result? Walk me through the logic using professional language (see how your reviewed articles propose their hypotheses).

One of the significant deficiency of the available literature is that there are notable warnings because of the methodological limitations associated with cross section measures and sampling. Therefore, effects of smartphone addiction among teenagers should be explored by use of qualitative enquiry. There is also a need to establish how much teenagers addicted to smartphone spent on other activities besides social sites and their corresponding effect to their mental health problems.

4. Briefly state how your study aims to address this deficiency and test your predictions (1-3 sentences). Describe your project, specifically addressing (1) the materials (e.g., stimuli) and measures (e.g., tests) required for your study, and (2) how each of your variables be operationally defined. Be specific; use measure names.

The study aims to address the mentioned deficiency by utilizing the most appropriate mechanisms which includes bit not limited to longitudinal cohort studies. The research will heavily rely on the first hand information gathered from school going teenagers who possess smartphones. The researchers will conduct an online interview asking their respondents to fill in a similar set of questions. Teenagers will be the dependent variable while smartphone addition becomes the independent variable.

 

 

Lab 4: Informed Consent, Debriefing, and Research Design

In this lab, you will create two forms that you will present to your participants when they participate in your study and you will write up a plan for how you intend to collect your data (i.e., what measures you will use and how you will use them).

Part 1: Informed Consent Form
Fill in the Consent Form template (next page) by replacing all the blue text. Remember that the key to an effective informed consent document is to be honest but vague. It is sometimes necessary to deceive your participants about the true intent of your study to avoid demand characteristics. However, you must provide a fair description of the kinds of tasks participants will be doing. Tell them what they will be doing, but not why.

Include only as much detail as is necessary for participants to decide whether they want to participate. For example, saying, “You will complete a short questionnaire about your daily stressors,” is good. You should not include details like, “You will answer each question on a 5-point Likert-type scale, with ‘1’ corresponding to infrequently and ‘5’ corresponding to all the time.” That type of information will go in the instructions for your task.

When describing the purpose and activities, and when generating a title for your project, make sure you do not divulge your hypothesis and do not disclose anything that might bias their reporting. For example, if your IV is gender, do not tell them that they are going to be asked to report their gender, as this may influence their responses on your DV measure.

Part 2: Debriefing Form
Fill in the Debriefing Form template (next next page) by replacing all the blue text. Cover the basics of your experiment in your debriefing document. Do not explain your hypothesis, list your experimental conditions, or cover all the background that led up to the creation of your experiment.

This form contains information you will need to help you decide whether to be in this research study. Please read the form carefully and ask the Student Researcher questions about anything that is not clear.

INFORMED CONSENT FORM

Project Title: Title that doesn’t give anything away
Instructor: Name of PSY 301 instructor
Student Researcher: Name of student researcher
Version Date: Current date (update if/when consent form is revised)
________________________________________

Purpose: You are being asked to take part in a research study conducted by the above-named Student Researcher for the completion of a class project. The purpose of this research study is to briefly describe the purpose of the study without divulging any information that may confound your results.

Activities: The study activities include briefly describe the study activities in simple terms. Your participation in this study will last about number less than or equal to 10 minutes.

Risks: This study involves minimal risk to participants; you will be exposed to nothing that you would not encounter in your normal daily activities.

Benefit: This study is not designed to benefit you directly. You will not be paid for being in this research study.

Confidentiality: The data from your participation are only accessible by the Student Researcher and the Instructor. Other people may learn that you participated in this study, but the information you provide will be kept confidential to the extent permitted by law.

Voluntary: Participation in this study is voluntary. If you become uncomfortable or no longer wish to participate, you may withdraw your consent or discontinue participation at any point without penalty. While study participation is voluntary, all questions must be answered for your individual responses to be included in the study results.

Contacts: If you have any questions about this research project, please contact Student Researcher at Student Researcher’s email address. If you have questions about your rights or welfare as a participant, please contact the Oregon State University Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) office, at (541) 737-8008 or by email at [email protected]

By clicking NEXT, you confirm that this project has been explained to you and that you agree to participate. If you do not want to participate in this study, simply close this browser window.

DEBRIEFING FORM

Project Title: Same title as on the other form
Instructor: Name of PSY 301 instructor
Student Researcher: Name of student researcher
Version Date: Current date (update if/when debriefing form is revised)
________________________________________

Thank you for participating in this study! We hope you enjoyed the experience. This form provides background information about our research to help you learn more about why we are doing this study.

You were told that the purpose of this study was to same purpose from consent form. In actuality (if you deceived them) / more specifically (if you did not deceive them) — delete the part you’re not using, we were interested in describe the true purpose of the study. To protect the integrity of this research, we could not fully divulge all the details of this study at the start of the procedure.

Because this research is ongoing, it is important that you do NOT talk (or write or email, etc.) about this project. The main reason for this is that YOUR COMMENTS could influence the expectations and, therefore, performance of a future participant, which would bias our data. Failure to comply with this request may have severe repercussions with regards to the accuracy of the data. We hope you will support our research by keeping your knowledge of this study confidential.

If you have questions about the research, please email Student Researcher at Student Researcher’s email address. If, as a result of your participation in this study, you experienced any adverse reaction, please contact Instructor at Instructor’s email address.
Part 3: Data Collection Plan
In Lab 3, you gathered and organized the information for the “Introduction” section of your paper. The next step toward your final manuscript is putting together the information you will need for your “Methods” section. The goal is to present this information clearly enough that your reader could replicate your study. Replace the examples below. You are welcome to use what is already here and switch out the parts with the info for your study.
1. List all the materials you will use to collect data for your study.
● Published measure example, including name, citation, and link: The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen, Kamarck, & Marmelstein, 1983), found here.
● Original measure example, including detailed description: My measure includes images of six book covers and 5-point rating scales beneath each that ask the participant to rate how interested they are in reading the book. The survey will also ask the participant to provide their date of birth, gender, and favorite color.

Tip! If you are concerned about how you will present your materials to participants, look ahead to the Lab 5 instructions.

2. Identify what each of these items will contribute to your study.
● Example: The PSS will be used to assess each participant’s perceived stress score, which is my dependent variable.

3. Estimate how much time it will take a participant to complete your study. Remember, the TOTAL amount of time to complete your study (including reading the informed consent and debriefing forms, and instructions) cannot be more than 10 minutes.
● Example: 6-8 minutes

4. Specify how you will assign participants to groups.
● Random assignment example: I will make one form for each of my three conditions (classical, lo-fi, control) and use https://allocate.monster/ to randomly assign each participant to a form/condition.
● Quasi-IV example: Participants will be grouped by chronotype. According to the MEQ-SA scoring criteria (p. 6), “Scores of 41 and below indicate ‘evening types.’ Scores of 59 and above indicate ‘morning types.’ Scores between 42-58 indicate ‘intermediate types.'”

Lab 5: Materials and Method

In this lab, you will submit all of the materials that you are going to use in your study, and draft your Method section.

Note Your materials must be approved before you can start collecting data. In Lab 7, you will analyze your data. You cannot analyze data you do not have, so it is important to get your materials approved and posted as soon as possible. To expedite this process, pay close attention to the instructions and watch for feedback on this lab (so you can post or revise immediately). Labs will be graded in the order received.

Part 1: Submit Your Materials
This playlist contains video tutorials for using Google Forms and making stimulus videos in PowerPoint. The Google Forms videos contain formatting and presentation tips/requirements that are relevant regardless of which platform you are using to deliver your materials.

Existing YouTube videos are great as timers or for playing background music. If you want to play music for a specific amount of time, show stimuli for a specific amount of time, or both, you will need to make your own YouTube video. That’s what the other two videos are about.

Tip! Please don’t make me write, “See video.” Almost all of the questions students ask about making their materials are already answered in the videos linked above. Almost all of the mistakes students make (which cost time and points) could have been avoided by watching the videos carefully and in their entirety.

Put all of your materials into one link. For example, you could have a multi-page Google Form with the following sections: (1) informed consent, (2) measure, (3) demographic info, (4) debrief. Do not direct your participants to an external website (e.g., an existing memory test on somebody’s website).

No matter which platform you use to deliver your study, your instructor and TA must be able to edit it. If the grader cannot edit your study at the time of grading, you will receive a zero for this portion of the lab.

Paste the editing link for your materials here:

If you are going to duplicate your form once it is approved, tell me what you’re switching out. Replace the example below. If you are not creating multiple forms (e.g., because you’re using a quasi-IV), delete this paragraph and the example.

Section 3
Current video: Evo-Devo by A Capella Science
Video for other condition: Yuve Yuve Yu by The HU

For each component of your study (excluding the informed consent and debriefing documents), indicate (1) where it came from and (2) how you will score it. This should include your materials from Part 3 of Lab 4 as well as anything you’ve made for this lab (e.g., a stimulus video). For components that do not require scoring, write “N/A” in that spot.

Replace the examples below.

1. Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)
Source: Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 385-396. doi:10.2307/2136404
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2136404
http://www.mindgarden.com/documents/PerceivedStressScale.pdf
Scoring: Reverse score Questions 4, 5, 7, and 8; then sum across all the answers to get their PSS score.

2. Visual memory test
Source: Me
Scoring: Calculate percent correct for Part 1. Calculate percent correct for Part 2. Average these two percents to get their memory score.

Part 2: Write Your Method Section
Before the Method section, the Introduction will provide a complete description of the variables used, the logic behind the design, and specific predictions. Do not repeat this information in the Method section. Your job here is to provide all of the details one would need to replicate your study. The Method section is the “who, what, and how” of data collection. What you do with the data will be in the Results section.

Below, there is an APA-Style template for you to fill in. To figure out what to put in each section, see pp. 510-512 of your textbook. When you think you’ve got everything you need, go through the “Method Checklist” on p. 512 to be sure. For additional help, see the sample report on pp. 525-539 of your textbook, the APA style guide on pp. 516-524, Appendix C: APA Help, and Appendix E: Final Paper Scoring Rubric.

Tip! Be careful about the words you choose. One word that is commonly misused in this assignment is random. You can say “participants were randomly assigned” if you used a randomizing process to assign participants to groups. You cannot say that you “chose six random shapes” because, to do so, you would need a list of all possible shapes and each shape would need an equal probability of being chosen.

Method
Design
Type here.
Participants
Type here. Use ___s as placeholders for numbers you don’t have yet.
Materials
Type here. Do not include informed consent and debriefing. If you have any other materials that are not published (e.g., questions you wrote, visual stimuli you made), include them in an appendix and refer your reader there (see the next page of your lab manual). If you modify the wording of a measure, say that you “modified Measure X (citation; see Appendix).” In the appendix, list the questions you modified. If it is only a subset of the original measure, number the questions so they match the original. For example, “Questions 2, 5, and 6 of Measure X were modified as follows:”
Procedure
Type here. You should include that “All measures were delivered via Google Forms.” This can go in your Materials or Procedure, whichever makes more sense for you. The procedure should describe a participant’s experience from recruitment (i.e., how they would have encountered the link to your study) to study completion, including informed consent and debriefing.

Appendix
The appendix is a place for supplementary information that would be necessary for someone to replicate your study, but that would interrupt the flow of the paper for someone who only wanted to read it. If you have things to put in an appendix, replace this text. If you do not need an appendix, leave this page as is. In your final report, the appendix will go at the very end.

What to put in an appendix:
● Questions you wrote
● A published measure you made changes to
○ In your Method, you would write something like: Questions from the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen et al., 1983) were adapted for use with a college population (see Appendix).
● Visual stimuli you made
What not to put in an appendix:
● A published measure without any changes
○ In your Method, you would write something like: Participants completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen et al., 1983).
● Youtube videos and other media
○ In your Method, you would write something like: Participants listened to “Truth Hurts” (Lizzo Music, 2017).
● Informed consent and debriefing documents

Part 3: Reference List Second Draft
Complete a revised version of your references page, taking into account any comments or feedback you received on Lab 3, Part 2. If your previous submission was not perfect and you submit the same list without making any corrections, you will receive a zero for this part because no new work has been done.

Your references list should include everything you’ve used (and therefore cited) in your project. This includes:
● Articles for your intro (Lab 3)
● Articles that inform your methods (Lab 2)
● Measures and/or stimuli that you are using/adapting (Lab 5).
○ For the measures, there is usually an associated journal article — cite that instead of the database entry with just the measure, if possible.

Links for helping you with the different types of references can be found in Appendix C.

 

References
Type here.

Lab 6: Title Page, Introduction, and References

This week’s lab focuses on working out the specifics of APA style and assembling your introduction section. Continue to reference Appendix C: APA Help as you work on your paper components. You will be graded on APA style adherence.

Tip! When writing a research report, the Introduction is often the most difficult part. As such, getting help from the Writing Center is a really good idea (and can get you extra credit).

Part 1: Title Page
Fill in the information below. When you copy this content into the title page of your final report, all of the text should be black. For an example of an APA-style title page, see p. 525 of your textbook (note, this is APA 6th).

The title should be in title case and should meet these five criteria (see also pp. 506-507 of your textbook). The short title is a shortened version of your title, in ALL CAPS. It still needs to tell me what your paper is about, but in 50 characters or fewer (usually 2-3 words).

Note Depending on your results, you may need to revise your title later.

Title:

Short title:

Author Note:
Your name, School of Psychological Science, Oregon State University.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Reed Lodge, 2950 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis, OR 97331; Email: your email address

 

Part 2: Introduction
The Introduction explains why it is important to conduct the present study, and provides a literature review (a synthesis of previous research that leads logically to the hypothesis being tested) and the background and logical basis for the hypothesis being tested. It also gives a brief overview of the present study, including: the variables, their operational definitions, and the hypothesis.

To write your introduction, take your answers from Lab 3, Part 4 and put them together in paragraph form (with transitions) in the way described in the “Tip!”

Additional Guidelines:
1. A successful Introduction will be 2-3 pages long.
2. You must use (and cite!) at least six empirical journal articles that inform your research topic.
3. Check that you are using the correct frequency of in-text citations.
4. You may use a maximum of one direct quote; it is usually better to use no quotations at all. Writing in psychological science rarely includes quotations. If you do choose a single quote that you just can’t live without, make sure to include the page number in the in-text citation.

Replace the placeholder below with the title of your paper (from Part 1). Your Introduction section starts right below that with no extra space and no heading. To figure out what to put in your Introduction and how to organize it, see pp. 507-510 of your textbook. When you think you’ve got everything you need, go through the “Introduction Checklist” on p. 510 to be sure. For additional help, see the sample report on pp. 525-539 of your textbook, the APA style guide on pp. 516-524, Appendix C: APA Help, and Appendix E: Final Paper Scoring Rubric.

Tip! Do not simply review your six articles sequentially without organizing and connecting them into a coherent structure. The goal here is to integrate findings across studies to make a clear case for your project. Make explicit connections between each study you present and your study, and summarize these studies only to the extent that is necessary to support your claims (i.e., exclude irrelevant details). Show me how the existing research led to your study, and how your study aims to address gaps in or limitations of the existing research. If you need examples, revisit the introductions of the articles you read. They should all start with a summary of previous research. Do not copy the writing, but try to emulate the professional language and organization.

Your Title Here in Title Case, Bolded
Type here.

Part 3: Reference List Final Draft
Complete a revised version of your references page, taking into account any comments or feedback you received on Lab 5, Part 3. If your previous submission was not perfect and you submit the same list without making any corrections, you will receive a zero for this part because no new work has been done.

 

References
Type here.

Lab 7: Data Analysis Plan and Conducting Data Analysis

Your primary task for this lab is conducting your data analysis. For help choosing the right stats, accessing and using software, etc., see Appendix D: Stats Help.

Note This lab will take a substantial amount of time, and getting help may take longer than usual this week (depending on how many students are asking for help). As such, you should start right away. If you are unsure about how you will analyze your data, please email your TA or instructor by Wednesday.

 

Part 1: Data Analysis Plan
In your final paper, this data analysis plan will go at the beginning of your Results section to let the reader know how your data were analyzed. It should be short and straightforward (1- 3 sentences), and in past tense. Include (1) how you grouped your participants, (2) what type of hypothesis test you conducted, and (3) the goal of the hypothesis test. Do not mention the descriptive statistics you will use, as these can be assumed.

Replace the example below. You are welcome to use what is already here and switch out the parts with the info for your study.

A two-tailed t test for independent groups was conducted to determine whether background color (yellow or white) had an effect on participants’ reading comprehension scores.

 

Part 2: Conducting Data Analysis
Go to Appendix D: Stats Help. Under “Using Software” are resources with step-by-step instructions for cleaning your data and calculating basic statistics in a variety of programs.

Tip! If you need help with this lab, putting all of the relevant materials (your data, analysis files, etc.) into a Google Drive folder and sharing it with your TA will expedite the process of assisting you. Be sure to include your hypothesis and analysis approach in the e-mail, as well as a description of your confusion/problem, or a picture of the error you are receiving. If you are seeing an error message (using R, for example), try Googling it first to see if the answer is easy to find. It will likely be your TA’s first action.

Clean your data. For the first part of your data analysis, you are going to copy your raw data into a new Google Sheet and prepare it for your stats program. DO NOT make any changes to the original “Responses” sheet. Each row should be one participant. You need to have your DV as a single column with a score for each participant. To get that score, do whatever you wrote in Lab 5. From there, you will either download your clean data for use in the statistics program of your choice (e.g., R Studio, JASP, SPSS), or do your analyses in Google Sheets.

If you have participants who did not follow your instructions, you will need to discard their data. Fill in the blanks below and add this to the “Participants” subsection of your Method.

Data from __ participants were discarded due to not following instructions, resulting in a final sample of __ participants.

Your Google Sheet should have everything one would need to re-run your statistical analyses. Don’t forget to add your instructor and TA as collaborators!

Paste the sharing link for your Google Sheet here:

Tip! Click your link to make sure it works, and to auto-replace the URL with your file name. If your link is not clickable, place your cursor at the very end of the link and press the spacebar.

Conduct your analyses. Google Sheets would be the easiest if you are unfamiliar with statistics packages, but you can use whichever program you would like, and are recommended to choose the one you are most comfortable with (e.g., the program you used in your stats class). If you’re still collecting data, that’s fine. The hardest part of data analysis is figuring out which test to run and how to run it. Once you’ve got that, rerunning it is very easy. If you collect more data after doing your analysis for this lab, rerun your test(s) before you write your Results and Discussion sections for Lab 8.

Report the following here:
1. Descriptive stats
a. Number of participants in each group:
b. Appropriate measures of central tendency and variability (usually mean and standard deviation):
c. Summary of sample demographics (e.g., number of participants of each gender, average age):

2. Inferential stats (i.e., hypothesis test)
a. Test statistic (e.g., t, F, or χ2):
b. Degrees of freedom:
c. p-value:

If you did your statistical analyses in Google Sheets, include everything in the file you linked above. If you used something else, paste screenshots of your output below and submit your data analysis files (i.e., R scripts/markdown files, .jasp files) as attachments to a comment on your lab submission (see Canvas assignment for help). I need these files to confirm that you conducted your analysis correctly.

Lab 8: Results and Discussion

Now you get to report (Results) and explain (Discussion) your findings! These sections of your final paper answer the questions: What happened? What did you find out? Did you find support for your hypotheses or not? Why might these results have occurred? What are the broader implications of your results?

For help, continue to reference the sample report on pp. 525-539 of your textbook, the APA style guide on pp. 516-524, Appendix C: APA Help, Appendix D: Stats Help, and Appendix E: Final Paper Scoring Rubric.

Note If you collected more data after you did your analysis for Lab 7, rerun your test(s) before you write your results and discussion sections for this lab.

Part 1: Table and Graph
For this section, you will make one APA-style table and one APA-style graph (or more, if you want to). APA Style is very specific about how tables and figures are formatted. Copying and pasting directly from Excel, SPSS, etc. is insufficient. In your final paper, each table/figure will go on its own page, after the References list and before the Appendices.

Tip! Watch the “Graph and Table” instructional video in Appendix D: Stats Help. Please don’t make me write “See video,” in my feedback on your lab!

Replace the example below with your APA-style table. (If it works for the data you are presenting, you can just replace the contents of the table below with your labels and values.) Don’t forget the title!

Table 1

Descriptive Statistics for Empathy Score as a Function of Gender
Empathy Score
Gender n M SD
Male 10 41.03 12.68
Female 12 46.52 7.12

Replace the example below with your APA-style figure. Don’t forget the caption!

Figure 1. Bar graph showing mean empathy score as a function of gender. (Error bars = SEM)

Part 2: Results
Describe the results and the analyses used to obtain them (i.e., what happened). Do not interpret the results (i.e., why it happened); interpretation belongs in the Discussion section.

Your Results section starts right below the “Results” heading. To figure out what to put in this section and how to organize it, see pp. 512-514 of your textbook. When you think you’ve got everything you need, go through the “Results Checklist” on p. 514 to be sure.

Additional Guidelines:
1. A successful Results section will be 1-3 paragraphs long. It is okay to write less, so long as all of your results are covered. It is better to be concise than to repeat yourself.
2. Describe the results and the analyses used to obtain them (i.e., what happened). Do not interpret the results (i.e., why it happened); interpretation belongs in the Discussion.
3. Your data analysis plan (Lab 7) should be the first sentence or two of your results section, followed immediately by your results.
4. Include both descriptive statistics (pp. 457-478) and inferential statistics (i.e., results of your hypothesis tests; pp. 479-504). Only use a leading zero for values that can be greater than 1. For help, see Appendix D: Stats Help.
5. Indicate whether the results are significant and whether this is consistent or inconsistent with your hypothesis. Report p-values as described in p. 532 of your textbook.

Results
Type here.

 

Part 3: Discussion
Discussion should explain the findings, whereas the Results section reports findings.

Your Discussion section starts right below the “Discussion” heading. To figure out what to put in this section and how to organize it, see pp. 514-516 of your textbook. When you think you’ve got everything you need, go through the “Discussion Checklist” on p. 516 to be sure.

Additional Guidelines:
1. A successful Discussion section will be 1-2 pages in length.
2. Explicitly state whether your hypothesis was supported.
3. Relate your findings to previous research.
4. Be careful not to overstate your findings. The word “prove” should not appear here.
5. Discuss the limitations of the study (beyond sampling limitations, which I will see as many times as there are students in the class) and their implications for validity.
6. Don’t forget to cite!

Discussion
Type here.

Lab 9: Abstract

The purpose of an abstract is to provide a comprehensive summary of the key points of an article or study in 250 words or less (closer to 150 words is better). A well-prepared abstract can be one of the most important paragraphs in a scientific report. To be successful, it must be clear, concise, and organized.

Your Abstract starts right below the “Abstract” heading, which is not bolded. To figure out what to put in this section and how to organize it, see p. 507 of your textbook and this APA Blog post. When you think you’ve got everything you need, go through the “Abstract Checklist” on p. 507 to be sure. For additional help, see the sample report on pp. 525-539 of your textbook, the APA style guide on pp. 516-524, Appendix C: APA Help, and Appendix E: Final Paper Scoring Rubric.

Provide 3-5 keywords for your research. For help, see this APA Blog post.

Tip! If you need more examples, revisit the abstracts and keywords of the articles you read. To count the words in your abstract, select that block of text and go to Tools > Word count.

 

Abstract
Type here. The abstract should not be indented. Remember to sample from all four major sections of your paper in constructing it.
Keywords: Type here.
 

 

Congratulations! You’re done with the labs.

 

Everything past this page is reference material.

Appendix A: Topic Help

Topic Criteria

To ensure that the topic you choose for your final project is something that you will actually be able to do, consider the following criteria:

1. Your topic must be related to psychology.
Given the limitations of this course (more info below), topics from cognitive or personality psychology tend to work better.

2. Your Final Project cannot be a direct replication.
You cannot redo something that has already been done in the exact same way. Instead, your research must expand upon that previous research (e.g., by adding another independent variable or investigating that phenomenon under different conditions).

3. You cannot expose your participants to physical or psychological risk.
Because we are collecting data without IRB approval and oversight (see textbook pp. 99-100), we must be extra cautious. As such, topics that may make participants uncomfortable (e.g., sexual behavior, sexual orientation, depression, substance use, etc.) are prohibited. Additionally, your participants must be 18 years or older.

4. Participating in your project cannot take more than 10 minutes.
You will be asking friends, classmates, coworkers, etc. to participate in your study. To minimize the inconvenience to them, your project cannot take more than 10 minutes to complete; closer to 5 minutes would be ideal.

5. You will collect your data online.
You will not interact with your participants and your study cannot require any materials other than the participant’s computer.

6. You must have at least one independent variable and one dependent variable.
You can group participants by condition (i.e., manipulate an experimental variable) or by a quasi-independent variable (i.e., measure a participant variable). You can have up to two additional independent variables, and those do not have to be categorical. However, more variables means more complicated data analysis. Further, because you will need a minimum of 10 participants per group, adding more categorical variables and/or levels of a categorical variable increases your total number of participants.

7. You will need at least six peer-reviewed articles suitable for supporting your topic.
Before you commit to a topic, ensure that you can find information that supports a prediction or hypothesis being drawn from it. This information must be drawn from peer-reviewed primary research articles, not from press articles or other non-refereed sources of information.

If you have any questions about the appropriateness and/or feasibility of a particular research topic, or need help streamlining your project, please email the TA. (If there is no TA for this course, email your instructor.)

Tip! When you find an appropriate topic that you might be interested in, look for available measures before you get too set on the idea. It is easier to use published measures because they are already validated, and have clear methods for scoring the responses and interpreting those scores. If you invent your own measure, you will have to figure out how to score it, which is much more difficult than it sounds. Two good places to look for measures are PsychNET’s PsycTESTS database (see Lab 1) and the Measurement Instrument Database for the Social Sciences (MIDSS).

 

Choosing a Specific Topic

If you’re having a hard time thinking of a topic you want to research, start by picking one of the suggested target articles. Read the article and try to think of questions (i.e., potential topics for your project) raised by that research — the authors might even present some in the Discussion section. Next, determine whether you could conduct research that would contribute to answering any of those questions. Look up related articles to see if it’s been done already, and to refine your project ideas.

Example:

1. I read an article that said that traditional and nontraditional students’ performance on [TASK] differs, and the authors propose that this difference might be due to a difference in [TRAIT].
2. This raises two questions:
a. Do traditional and nontraditional students differ in [TRAIT]?
b. Does [TRAIT] predict performance on [TASK]?
3. Can I do either of these things?
a. Let’s say that [TASK] isn’t something that I’m going to be able to pull off, given the limitations of this course and/or my own abilities.
b. So, I choose to continue with “Do traditional and nontraditional students differ in [TRAIT]?”
4. I look up articles on this topic and find that it’s already been done, and traditional and nontraditional students do differ in [TRAIT]. However, all of this research has been done with students who take classes on campus.
5. My new question is, “Do traditional and nontraditional students who take classes online differ in [TRAIT]?”

Appendix B: Article Help

Criteria
What makes a good source for your research paper? In order of importance, a good source is:

1. Directly related to your question. An article containing one aspect of your topic doesn’t necessarily mean it will be useful to you, or related to your question. Don’t get sidetracked. When you find a potentially useful article, skim it to check so you don’t end up putting a lot of time into something you ultimately will not use. And, if something you’re reading isn’t working out, do not feel compelled to keep reading it. You likely will not use every article you read—that’s simply part of the process, so do not be discouraged when it happens!

2. Peer reviewed. Lay press articles (e.g., from Psychology Today or Time Magazine), dissertations, and theses are not peer reviewed; therefore, they will not be accepted as references in your final project. If you find something interesting in a lay press source, look up the original scholarly article on which it is based. If you find a thesis or dissertation that looks like it might be helpful, try using its author in an author search to see if they have published peer-reviewed work on that topic.

3. Not from the same authors or journal as all your other sources. Variety is necessary for conducting unbiased research.

4. Recent(ish). Science changes rapidly. The only instance in which you should be using citations older than 10 years is if they are for the original theory or method on which your other sources are based. For example, research on Prospect Theory is still being conducted, but you would have to cite the original Kahneman and Tversky (1979) paper when introducing the topic.
Another thing you may want to consider is impact factor. While impact factors are a flawed metric and should not be used as the only criterion by which to judge a journal (see Lab 1), they are still useful. To help you, here’s a list of impact factors of psychology journals.

Finding Sources
In addition to the search methods you learned in Lab 1, here are some other ways to find relevant sources:
1. Look through the references of your target article for sources you think might be helpful to you.
2. Search for other articles by the same author(s) as your target article.
3. If your target article has keywords (usually listed below the abstract), use those as search terms.

Reading Articles
For tips on how to read more effectively, please read pp. 46-48 of your textbook and How to Read Psychology Journal Articles.
I strongly recommend highlighting and annotating articles as you read them.
Highlighting. Using a color coding scheme makes it easy to find the desired piece of info when skimming things you’ve read before, to check things like the capitalization or hyphenation of certain terms (e.g., the Mozart effect), and find sources cited within sources.
Here’s an example color coding scheme:
● yellow = main points
● pink = key terms
● blue = references I may want to use
● green = brain loci/regions/structures
Annotating. As you read an article, add notes about:
● The goal of the article
● Recurring themes
● Flaws in research methodology, logic, interpretation of others’ work, etc.
● Questions that the reading raises
● Connections to the other sources
● Connections to other work you are familiar with (e.g., from other classes)

Appendix C: APA Help

Note A new edition of the APA Manual was released late last year, but the new edition of our textbook, with the relevant style changes, has not yet been published. Further, only some of the resources linked below have updated. Because of the inconsistencies between our textbook (6th edition) and the current APA style rules (7th edition), I will be accepting both as correct.

If you have not used APA Style before, a good place to start is with the annotated sample papers starting on p. 525 of your textbook (6th edition) and on the Purdue OWL or APA websites (7th edition).

If you have any questions, start by searching the 6th edition APA Style Blog (out of date, but more complete) or the 7th edition APA Style Blog (current). If you can’t find your answer, or if you have a question about something on this list, please post in the course Q&A Discussion.

 

Dr. Collins’s Manuscript Checklist
This checklist includes resources for correcting errors that I commonly see in student writing. Learn from other students’ mistakes; don’t lose those easy points!

Page Formatting
● EVERYTHING in the same APA-approved font, including page numbers
o For this course, 12-point Times New Roman font is required
o Be extra careful about text that is copy-pasted (careful of small color differences)
● Double spaced with 1-inch margins all around
o No extra space between paragraphs or sections (Docs help, Word help)
● Running head with short title and page numbers
● Correct use and formatting of headings and subheadings
o Use “keep with next” (not blank lines) to keep a heading with its paragraph
● Page break (not blank lines) between major sections (e.g., between title page and abstract)

Text Formatting
● Use italics when introducing a new term
● Numbers written out when appropriate
● In-text citations
● Only use a direct quote if you have a good reason; citation includes page(s)
● See section below for formatting references

Use of Language
● No idioms, slang, contractions, impersonal you, or rhetorical questions
● Avoid personal pronouns and subjective, informal language
● Wording is concise and precise; nothing is ambiguous or vague
● Use terminology correctly (pay attention to precise wording in articles)

Grammar, Punctuation, Etc. (also see the Writing Resources section below)
● No awkward wording or repetitive word use (HINT: Read your writing out loud. Really.)
● Check subject-verb agreement, verb tense, and pronouns
o APA allows use of the singular “they”
● No unnecessary capitalization
● Always use the serial/Oxford commas
● Correct use of commas, apostrophes, semicolons, and hyphens
● Correct punctuation around quotation marks

 

APA-Style References

Your references list must include all of the articles used, as well as any other materials you are using for your study.

Formatting references. For help with some of the more common types of reference entries, see pp. 523-524 of your textbook, or this quick guide from APA. Depending on the materials you’ve chosen, you may need to include one or more of the following in your references list:

● A published measure (help here)
● A YouTube video (help here)
● A song (help here)
● An image (help here)
● A website (help here)

For additional help with references, see this Purdue OWL guide.Use the menu on the left to navigate between sections.

APA-Style references for journal articles follow this general format:
Author1, X. X., Author2, X. X., & Author3, X. X. (year). Article title in sentence case: Capital also for subtitle. Journal Title in Title Case, volume(issue), page range. https://doi.org/______

Tips! You can copy and paste this template into your references list, and then replace the placeholders with content.

Some online-only journals do not assign page numbers to their articles (if you download the PDF, each will start with p. 1). Instead, they assign an article number. When creating a reference list entry for such an article, use the article number in place of the page range.

Here is an example, with the source of the info:
Calderwood, C., Ackerman, P. L., & Conklin, E. M. (2014). What else do college students “do” while studying? An investigation of multitasking. Computers & Education, 75, 19-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.02.004

 

Tip! Digital object identifiers (DOIs) can be assigned retroactively. If a source does not have a DOI on it, look for the article in the OSU library database. Do not use URLs with “proxy” in them — those require login to the OSU Library. If a DOI is not available, use the URL to the article on the publisher’s website, even if there is a paywall.

 

Formatting the page. For a visual of how your completed References list should look, see p. 535 of your textbook (note, in APA 7th the header is bold). Your references list should only include sources that you will cite in your manuscript, and every source in your manuscript should be included on your References list. In other words what’s in your paper and what is in your references list should be a 100% match.

1. Everything needs to be 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced, black (not gray!), and without extra spaces between references.
2. Center the word References at the top of the list.
3. Entries must be alphabetized by first author (e.g., Folkard goes before May). Do not change the order of the authors within a given source.
4. Use hanging indents (not tabs). For help, see the Hanging Indents section below.

Hanging Indents
Why does this matter? The reason that using returns and tabs is a problem is that what fits on a line can shift when viewed on different computers or when downloaded and opened in a different program (first example below). If the line of text no longer fits, that last word will wind up on the next line by itself. This can also happen when correcting errors in your reference (second example below).

Original:
Calderwood, C., Ackerman, P. L., & Conklin, E. M. (2014). What else do college students “do”
while studying? An investigation of multitasking. Computers & Education, 75, 19-29.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.02.004

Problem when line width shifts:
Calderwood, C., Ackerman, P. L., & Conklin, E. M. (2014). What else do college students “do”
while studying? An investigation of multitasking. Computers & Education, 75, 19-29.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.02.004

Problem when text is added:
Calderwood, C., Ackerman, P. L., & Conklin, E. M. (2014). What else do college students “do”
while studying? An investigation of multitasking in an online student population. Computers & Education, 75, 19-29.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.02.004

How do I do this in a browser? Use the markers on the ruler just like you would in Word. Here’s a video! Another option is to copy and paste the template above and switch out the information.
How do I do this on an iPad? Copy the template from my example in Lab 1 and paste it above your list. Go down to your first reference, and backspace until it’s on the same line as the one with the formatting you want. Hit ENTER and the hanging indent will carry over to the new line. Move down to the next list item and repeat. Here’s a video!
Help! Everything is moving together! If you are trying to adjust the alignment of a line and the stuff around it is moving too, it’s because you held SHIFT when you did not have to. If you hold SHIFT when you make a line break, the new line is considered part of the previous paragraph. So, when you change the indent on part of it, the whole thing moves as one. If you are working in a part of the lab that is not numbered or otherwise formatted, you can hit ENTER/RETURN without holding SHIFT. This will separate the paragraphs and allow you to adjust their alignment independently.

 

Writing Resources

Purdue OWL (use the menu on the left to navigate between sections):
● APA Formatting and Style Guide (7th ed.). Links to many other resources, including sample documents..
● Writing in Psychology (Purdue OWL). The “Experimental Reports” pages will be helpful for writing the main sections of your paper (Introduction, Method, etc.).
● Conciseness. Use this guide to improve your concision.
● Transitions. Use this guide to improve the flow of your writing.

OSU resources:
● The 20 most common errors in social science writing
● The Writing Center. Not only will using the Writing Center improve your work, but it will also earn you some extra credit. The Writing Center accepts online submissions and provides feedback by email, so being busy during business hours or too far away to go in person should not keep you from using this service. You do not need to have your entire paper done to get help. For example, you can submit just your intro (Lab 6) or results and discussion (Lab 8).

Appendix D: Stats Help

Choosing Your Stats
You will need descriptive statistics and at least one hypothesis test (i.e., inferential statistics) for your project. To decide which hypothesis test(s) to run, see Table S2.3 in your textbook (pp. 502-503). Because you all have a categorical IV, most of you will use one of the following hypothesis tests:
● Independent-groups t test (2 groups, 1 quantitative DV)
● Paired-samples t test (1 group tested twice, 1 quantitative DV)
● One-way ANOVA (3+ groups, 1 quantitative DV)
● Chi-square test for independence (2+ groups, 1 categorical DV)
If you have more than one IV, you will have to do more or different tests. (I tried to warn you!)
● If you have two continuous (quantitative) variables and one categorical variable, you can either use a z-test to compare correlations, or you can run a multiple regression. See this doc for help.

If you need to refresh your stats knowledge, check out the following playlists:
● PowerPoints from a stats class a very long time ago
● Lightboard videos from a more recent stats class
● Crash Course Statistics

Using Software
● Resources in week 7 module (R, JASP/Jamovi, Excel)
● Google Sheets tutorial videos (Lab 7)
● Google Sheets stats function list
● Tutorials for Minitab, SPSS, and R
● Online stats calculators (You might not even need a stats program! Would recommend avoiding this for reproducibility reasons, though.)

Accessing Software
For running your analyses, use whichever program you are most comfortable with (e.g., the program you used in your stats class).

JASP. If you would like to use JASP, you can download it here for free. If you’re on a Mac and need help, see this Mac Installation Guide. Help with JASP can be found on the JASP website.

RStudio. If you would like to use RStudio, you can download it here for free. Help with RStudio can be found all over the internet. Here’s a good place to start.

SPSS. As an OSU student, you can access SPSS (and all of the other programs available on standard on-campus computers) remotely. To gain access to OSU’s Citrix server, see OSU Citrix Apps Instructions. To be able to save files to your computer, you will need to download the Citrix Receiver desktop app.
When you go to save your SPSS file, click the dropdown menu next to Desktop and make sure you are not saving to a remote desktop. To navigate to the correct folder, you first have to go to Local Disk (C: on [name of your computer]) > Users > [your username on your computer]. Make sure you find the local disk with your computer’s name on it – there are other options in the menu that are the wrong “local disk.” If you are having a hard time navigating this save menu, please see this video tutorial I made to help a former student.
See this video for help exporting figures from SPSS.

Reporting Statistics
● Resources in week 7 module
● Examples of common stats reported in APA style
● Formatting Statistics: Using Parentheses (APA Style Blog)

Making Tables and Figures
● APA Style: Figure Setup
● Graph and Table (video tutorial)
● 4 column graph with SEM error bars (video tutorial)
● Making Tables and Figures (PDF)

Appendix E: Final Paper Scoring Rubric

Your paper will be graded according to the rubric below. The grader will use the following highlighting to indicate which areas you did well/poorly:

+ = blue highlight
✔ = no highlight
– = yellow highlight

Abstract ___ / 3 pts
● Statement of problem and hypothesis
● Summary of method and results
● Conclusions and implications
● Proper format (no indentation, double spaced, APA-style stats)
● Does not contain too much detail

Introduction ___ / 8 pts
● Clear introduction of topic, statements of general problem or question
● Theoretical and research background, review of relevant literature
● The contribution to knowledge to be made by the current study
(including brief description of the study)
● Hypotheses and/or predictions are logical based on reviewed literature
● No unsubstantiated claims
● Does not contain info that belongs elsewhere

Method ___ / 8 pts
● Includes all required sections (Participants, Materials, Procedure)
● Correct use of experimental design terminology
● Presents a clear and replicable description of the study
● Does not contain info that belongs elsewhere

Results ___ / 8 pts
● Reporting of appropriate descriptive statistics (e.g., means or frequencies)
● Reporting of appropriate statistical analyses (e.g., two-way ANOVA)
● APA-style stats
● Brief explanation of numerical findings (e.g., which group mean was higher, significant differences)
● Reference to table(s) and/or figure(s)
● Does not contain info that belongs elsewhere

Discussion ___ / 8 pts
● Statement of (non)support
● Provides an overview of results without repeating actual numbers
● Gives an overall sense that the writer fully understands the reported results
● Relates present findings to previous work (i.e., work cited in the introduction), provides possible explanations for findings
● Discusses limitations (beyond sampling) of the present study and directions for future research
● No unsubstantiated claims
● Does not contain info that belongs elsewhere

Citations and References ___ / 5 pts
● All references cited in text are documented
● All references listed are cited in text
● APA in-text citation format
● APA reference format

Figure(s) and/or Table(s) and Respective Components ___ / 5 pts
● Informative and non-redundant (e.g., not verbatim from results section)
● Proper format for figure(s) (e.g., labels, error bars, font)
● Proper format for table(s) (e.g., labels, spanners, font)
● Proper format for captions
● Each on its own page, after the References section

APA Format and Writing Style ___ / 5 pts
● Title page (running head, page number, descriptive title, affiliation, author note, etc.)
● APA headings
● Spacing, alignment, font, margins, etc.
● Clarity, concision, grammar/punctuation, word choice, scientific tone, etc.