Overview
The final project is meant for you to propose a hypothetical study. You are not and should not be conducting human subjects research for this project. It is not necessary for the purposes of this assignment. All human subjects research requires written approval from the SNHU COCE Institutional Review Board in order to protect the welfare and ensure ethical treatment of the subjects.
The final project for this course is the creation of a research report consisting of a literature review and research proposal.
One of the most exciting things you can do in psychology is research. Do you want to identify the reliability of a test of self-efficacy? Do you want to find the best way to lose weight or quit smoking? Do you want to solve the mystery of what portion of the screen a person's eye is most likely to be drawn to while on the internet? Research can provide answers to these questions.
For many years, psychologists have been committed to research. This commitment has kept psychology moving forward, rather than falling prey to biases and "what is obvious" (but wrong). A set of tools is found in research that help us to avoid bias.
For the final project in this course, you will develop a research report consisting of a literature review and a research proposal. This will allow you to develop the skills associated with interpreting research to develop sound arguments. It will also allow you to plan and design research studies.
The project is divided into three milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Two, Three, and Five. The final project will be submitted in Module Seven.
In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:
• Select multiple research methods for conducting effective analysis of psychological research
• Identify bias and other factors that impact credibility in psychological research for determining the reliability of sources
• Develop hypotheses informed by peer-reviewed psychological research appropriate to a specific topic
• Determine the most appropriate research method for accurately communicating results drawn from psychological research
• Describe the procedure used in psychological research for developing research that effectively communicates findings to an intended audience
• Assess the research design of psychological studies for ensuring alignment with the expectations of the APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists
Prompt
For the final project, you will develop a report containing a literature review and a research proposal using APA formatting and following the outline below. You will identify a topic for study, review at least six peer-reviewed psychological articles, write a literature review based on the articles, develop a hypothesis, and
plan the research methodology, including your data collection and analysis techniques. Your APA paper should include the following formatting. Each of the three sections should include the appropriate sections from the outline below.
1. Introduction
a. Topic
b. Literature Review
c. Hypothesis
2. Methods
a. Methodology
b. Data Collection
3. Discussion
Specifically the following critical elements must be addressed:
I. Introduction:
A. Identify and briefly summarize the topic related to psychology, which you will study.
B. Literature Review
1. Summarize articles relevant to the topic you want to research.
2. Discuss the bias and limitations present in the articles. Support your discussion with specific examples from the articles.
3. Discuss the other factors present in the articles that might impact the credibility of those articles. Support your discussion with specific examples from the articles.
a. Explain how the bias and limitations may inform or influence your research.
b. Summarize the research design and methods described in these articles.
c. Discuss the appropriateness of the research design and methods in these articles. Were they appropriate for the research questions and hypotheses?
d. Discuss whether or not the research design and methods in these articles align to the expectations of the APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists. Support your discussion with specific examples from the articles.
e. Based on your evaluation of these articles, discuss which research design and methods you feel will be most appropriate for the
research you want to conduct.
f. Explain the steps you will take to ensure your research aligns to the expectations of the APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists.
C. Hypothesis
1. State your hypothesis. The hypothesis should be logical and appropriate to the topic you want to research.
2. Explain where your hypothesis fits in the context of the literature reviewed.
3. Discuss specific examples from relevant literature that support your hypothesis.
(Refer to APA Manual Section 2.05 (pp. 27-28) for more details on structuring the Introduction and Figure 2.1 (pp. 42-44)for a sample paper.)
II. Methods
A. Methodology
1. Explain the research design and method you selected, and justify why they are appropriate for your research.
2. Discuss the research participants who will be involved in your study, including how they will be selected and how many will be used.
B. Data Collection
1. Describe your sampling frame.
2. Discuss the data collection instrument you will use and also discuss how the data collected will address your hypothesis.
3. Explain how you will ensure the protection of participants in your study and adherence to the APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists.
III. Discussion (In a typical research experiment, you would discuss the results of your experiment here. Since you will not be collecting data, you will discuss expected findings.)
A. Using the articles you previously evaluated in the literature review (within the Introduction), explain how the evidence presented by the authors of the articles supports the experiment you have designed and presented in the Method section. You should also clearly state whether or not your hypothesis was supported.
Since you will not have any data, you might say something like "Data that indicate teenagers make poor emotional decisions when around their friends would support my original hypothesis that peer pressure has a negative influence on the decision making of teens." In this way, you are describing what data are needed to support your hypothesis..
B.Explain how you would appropriately convey your research findings to your audience. How would this be written? What aspects of the research would be referenced? You should be clear about what the data would indicate and discuss the implications (or meaning) of those findings in terms or research that has been presented and conducted on this topic.
C.Explain what further research could be conducted that goes beyond or in a different direction than your research proposal. The conclusion should end with a brief, but clear and insightful discussion of what the next step would be for your topic.
You might mention other populations that could be studied or discuss how another research method could be used to examine the topic. Or you might discuss problems that remain in your area of research or anticipate problems that might arise due to your data.
Refer to APA Manual Section 2.08 (pp. 35-36) for more details on structuring the Discussion section and Figure 2.1 (pp. 47-49) for a sample paper.
IV. APA Formatting: Utilize appropriate APA formatting throughout the report for headings, organization (including a cover page, abstract, reference list, and the sections outlined above), and stylistic elements. Refer to your APA Manual for additional guidance.
Milestone One: Topic Selection and Introduction
Milestones
In Module Two, you will submit the Milestone One Worksheet: Topic Selection and Introduction. You should build on the ideas from the Module One discussion to select your final topic. Remember to select an area of psychology that you wish to research. For example, you might look at cognitive psychology or developmental psychology. Then, within this field, you will pick a particular area that is of interest to you.
For example, within the field of cognitive psychology, you might examine memory in emotional situations. Or, within developmental psychology, you might examine the development of executive functions in kindergarteners. Your final topic submission should discuss the area of psychology that you wish to research and provide a discussion of at least two articles that you might use in the literature review section of the introduction.
You may use the article that you found to support your topic in the Module One discussion as one of your two articles, or choose two new articles. The articles should be used to support your topic choice and help you explain the different concepts that you will explore in your research.
For example, if you are interested in looking at executive functions in kindergarteners, you might find two articles that describe prior research on this topic and discuss how the articles are relevant to your topic. What do the articles examine that you might also examine? Or what might be some limitations of the articles that you could address in your research? This milestone is graded with the Milestone One Rubric.
Milestone Two: Hypothesis and Methodology
In Module Three, you will submit the Milestone Two Worksheet: Hypothesis and Methodology.
For the hypothesis, you should give a brief overview of what you expect to find in your area of research based on the research you have gathered.
Be sure that your hypothesis is clear and supported by literature, using specific examples from the literature.
Next, you should discuss the specific method that you will use for your research proposal, for example, an experimental design, a correlational design, a survey, or a case study. You should also discuss the details of how this method will be used.
For example, if you are using an experimental design, you will need to identify the independent and dependent variables of the experiment. Or, if you are using a survey, discuss how the survey will be carried out. How will you ensure the questions are well formulated? This milestone is graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.
Attachment:- Milestone.rar