Project Proposal Assignment: Experimental Psychology
Plus separate requirement on Ethics
I. (Ethics Requirement). You should take the PEERRS Certification (only the module for Human Subjects Research Protections). Note if you have already done this, or if you have done the previous incarnation of it called Human Subjects: Social and Behavioral, simply provide the screen shot that documents your certification.
All you need to do is to attach, by cutting and pasting, evidence of having passed certification. If you have already done so, then simply cut and paste the web site that shows your certification--see below (in the Word doc copy of this assignment).
(Note that I was able to copy the web page by pressing Alt-PrintScreen and then pressing Ctrl-V to paste it in. With a laptop, you may need to press Fn-Alt-PrintScreen.
II. Note that this is Step 2 of the process of doing your Independent Research Project. It is your more detailed proposal. It may be simply a more detailed version of what you did for Assignment 6, or it may be an entirely new idea. If I indicated to you in the comments to Assignment 6 that there were some outstanding issues, you should contact me before doing this assignment to make sure that you can proceed.
1. Write a 2 - 3 page introduction to your Project, including 4 - 6 primary source articles.
2. Write a formal Methods section in the style that we have been doing for Research reports.
3. Include a References Section.
4. In doing 1 - 3, you should
• Describe your project idea (it must be novel; i.e. it cannot be exactly the same as an already performed experiment. If it is similar but different, you must argue that the difference you are making is for some specific purpose.)
a. What is/are the independent variable(s)?
b. What is/are the dependent variable(s)?
c. What research question do you hope to answer?
d. Write a full methods section for your proposal.
• Answer each of the following. Feel free to elaborate if a simple answer is not sufficient.
a. Can your experiment be done online? (We will be allotting one or two class periods to person-to-person data collection for those who need it).
b. Will you be using the class as your Participants (Ps)? If not, explain why it is not possible to use the class. Also (if not) indicate whether have any special requirement for your Ps that may be potentially problematic.
c. How many Ps per group will you need? (If you are doing repeated measures indicate clearly that the Ps per group is the same as your total number of Ps.)
d. Will you require my help in writing/modifying a computer program or in any aspect of your experimental preparation? If so, explain.
e. About how much time per P will be required?
Additional Information in case you wish to change your topic
Project Ideas
The first criterion is practicality. The project should be something in which the experiment can be set up fairly easily and the data can be collected easily as well.
Experiment Set-up
1. You can potentially do a modification of one of the class experiments. If the programming is not too complicated, I can modify the program to your specifications.
2. You can do a program on the computer using something like PowerPoint to present your stimulus materials.
3. You can do a pen-and-paper type experiment, though it would still need to be a computer document, so fellow students can have access to it.
Data Collection
1. Participants (Subjects) will preferably consist of fellow students but may consist of friends, family, random volunteers, etc. if you can make a case why that is necessary..
2. It should take no more than about 15 minutes per person.
3. I will show you how to set up a Google Doc like the ones we have been using , so that students may post their data in the same way as we have been doing for our weekly experiments.
How to Get Ideas
1. You can do a small modification of one of the experiments we have already done or one you have read about. However, it should not just be some random modification (e.g. what would happen if we used letters rather than numbers in the Sternberg task); there should be some theoretical basis for the modification.
2. You can read textbooks (e.g. your Intro Psychology book) and do modification of one of those
3. You can read a research report, and pay special attention to the end, where sometimes the researcher makes specific suggestions for future research.
4. You can come up entirely with your own idea.
5. The following are not actual ideas, but rather categories to get you started. Your own idea does not need to come from this list.
a. Memory
i. Test mnemonic techniques
ii. look at serial position effects
iii. compare visual vs. verbal memory
iv. something with memory for faces
b. Effects of Multi-tasking
c. Something with visual illusions
d. Test out Gestalt organization principles by (e.g.) comparing grouping by color to grouping by form.
e. Metacognition (how well do people know what they know)
f. Come up and test various scenarios (Note you would have to have an Independent variable, testing out some idea, not just wondering how people will rate various scenarios)
i. judging overall attractiveness
ii. views on sexual harassment
iii. how to make an argument more/less convincing
g. Anagrams (can give different types of clues-e.g. correct firs letter, last letter, tell person the part of speech, etc.) to get some handle on how words are mentally represented.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.
Attachment:- Possible-Project-Idea.rar