MEASUREMENT & IRB FORMS
I. MEASUREMENT WORKSHEET
Answer each question with respect to your team's specific choices for the research study (this means the study as your team has decided to analyze the data, which will not necessarily be the same as the originally designed study). If you don't recall the statistical information from your prerequisite statistics class, you may need to read ahead to information in Weeks 4 and 5 to answer the design and statistical questions. (12 points total)
1. Independent Variable:
a. What is the independent variable (IV) you have chosen for your study?
b. What is the scale of measurement for your IV?
c. What is the operational definition for your IV (how will you measure it)?
2. Dependent Variable:
a. What is the dependent variable you have chosen for your study (DV)?
b. What is the scale of measurement for your DV?
c. What is the operational definition for your DV (how will you measure it)?
3. Research Design & Statistics:
a. Does this study (given the variables you have selected to examine) represent a true experiment? How do you know this is correct?
b. What is the research design of the study as you have chosen to analyze the data (e.g., between subjects, within subjects, non-equivalent groups, pre-post, etc.)? How do you know this is correct?
c. What descriptive statistics will you report in your paper? How do you know these are the correct descriptive statistics to report?
d. What inferential statistical analysis(es) will you report in your paper? How do you know these are the correct inferential statistics to report?
II. INTERNAL REVIEW BOARD (IRB) FORM
The purpose of this form is to enable an Internal Review Board to verify both the safety and confidentiality of all participants. Given that you are analyzing data that has already been collected, you need to pretend you are the experimenters who originally put this study together on the internet (as they had to obtain IRB approval before they posted their study). Try to be as accurate as possible in how you answer these questions given the way the study is actually conducted (NOT how you would like to conduct it if you were doing this yourself). In order to complete this questionnaire, you need to deviate from reality in two ways: 1) You should answer each question with respect to your team's specific choices for the research study (this means the study as your team has decided to analyze the data, which will not necessarily be the same as the originally designed study). 2) When you create your Consent Form you should stick to reality as much as possible, but you can make up details you feel you need to include in order to create an adequate consent form. Remember - the Consent Form is the ONLY place you can embellish for this project; your paper must be as accurate as possible. (12 points total)
1. What is your research hypothesis?
2. Who will be the participants in your study? How will they be recruited to participate?
3. How will confidentiality of your subjects be maintained? How will you identify data associated with each participant?
4. Are there any potential risks, physical or psychological, to your participants? If so, what are they?
5. How will your subjects be debriefed?
6. Describe the procedures of your study with enough detail that the Internal Review Board can make a judgment about whether or not your study is being conducted appropriately to test your research hypothesis and reduce or eliminate risk for your participants.
7. Create and attach a copy of your Consent Form.