Psych 101: Introductory Psychology Lab

(Note: This can be a Group Research Project if you prefer. You may work in groups of 2 or 3.)

1. Choose a topic that you find interesting which would be of interest to your fellow students.

1. Choose something in the area of human behavior which interests you. If you have trouble thinking of a topic, browse through your Psych 101 textbook or other sources.
2. Make your topic something which can be researched within the Drexel community. Subjects may be from outside the community if discussed with your Lab instructor.
3. Do not consider any project which involves the administration of mind or mood altering drugs, including alcohol, marijuana, or any other controlled substance. No such topics will be accepted.
4. You may use MacLaboratory software to design an experiment. You may use those which we used in class, or programs we have not used. However, you can not replicate an experiment conducted in class. For example, you might test to see how different types of people compare on mirror tracing or pursuit motor tasks but you cannot test to see the effects of distraction on mirror tracing. Do people who play the piano do better on certain tests? How about athletes?
5. If you are comfortable with computers, design your own program to measure some trait not covered by the MacLaboratory software. But remember, We are looking for good research design and methodology rather than for elaborate programming technique.
6. Quasi-experimental methods, such as the naturalistic Observation or the Survey Technique may also be used. See pages 295-302 for suggestions on surveys.

2. Proposal: Each student, or group of researchers is required to hand in a proposal. All topics must be approved by your Lab Instructor. The following should be included in your proposal:

The purpose of the proposal is to make sure everyone is on track, and attempting to conduct a testable experiment, given the time constraints and level of experience of the students.

3. Background research on your topic:

1. a. What: Each student is required to have at least two outside references, one of which much be a journal article. Groups of two or more students are required to have at least four references, two of which must be journal articles. Journal articles must come from scientific journals only--Psychology Today and Glamour are not scientific journals. Your journal article(s) can include past experiments which were similar in nature to the present experiment, or articles in support of the basic theory behind your hypothesis. They must be fully discussed in your introduction - see below. Each article cited should be entered into the Reference Section of your paper, in the format outlined by the APA in the Lab Manual. The two sections which should contain information from your references are the Introduction and Discussion section. You must first discuss the article in the Introduction section to be able to mention it in the later discussion section. You will be required to provide evidence of your research by handing in the first page of each article you cite in your final paper.
2. b. How: To facilitate your research, you may use several sources found at the library. The library offers PsycLit which is a database on CD ROM, on which you can type your topic or keywords to find relevant research. Ask your librarian if you have questions on how to use psyclit. Drexel does not have many Psychology Journals so you may need to go to Penn's Library to locate the correct journal.

4. Operationalize variables: Operationalize your Independent and Dependent Variables. This means to define the concept you are studying. For example, if you are looking at intelligence, define what it means, and how you are measuring it. You may want to use a standardized IQ test. Another example would be to use scores generated by the mirror tracing task to measure performance on motor task.

5. Sample: First, identify the population you are interested in studying. Next, choose a method of acquiring a sample of this population. Random sampling will lead to the most representative sample of your population, however we realize the difficulty of obtaining a random sample. If you use a between-subject design your groups should be as equivalent as possible except for the manipulation of the Independent variable.

Minimum Number of Subjects: One Experimenter 10 subjects
Two or Three Experimenters 20 subjects

6. Data Collection: Begin to collect your data from the sample. If more than one experimenter is conducting the study, have the same investigator manipulate the independent variable for all subjects, or give the survey, whichever the case may be. Have each subject tested under similar circumstances. This will reduce error.

7. Statistical Analysis: Once the data has been collected, perform your statistical analysis, including a test of significance, measures of central tendency, measures of variability, and any other tests relevant to your experiment.

8. Write Report: Follow the guidelines listed in below and in your lab manual:

What the IRP should include:

• Your paper should be a minimum of 5 pages in length. If two or more individuals are working together on this experiment the report should be 8-10 page pages. (Note: This does not include the title page, reference page, or appendices.)
• Papers will be graded on both content and format. Your grade will not be affected by failing to prove your hypothesis, as long as the experiment was conducted properly, and to the best of your ability. You will, however, be graded on the content of your paper, including all of the information outlined below. You will also be graded on the format of the paper; this includes spelling and grammar as well as proper headings and sections. Do not rely on spellcheck, as it will not pick up errors which are correctly spelled. If English is not your first language, be sure to have a friend proofread your paper, or get help from the Writing Center at Drexel. If necessary, your Lab Instructor will review your papers with your prior to the due date to guide you through any problems. Sloppy or careless work will not be tolerated.
• Reports of empirical studies typically consist of distinct sections that reflect the stages in the research process. You should be familiar with most of these sections, as you have written most for various homework assignments. Your paper should be divided into these sections with the following headings:

A. Title: A title should summarize the main idea of the paper simply and clearly. It should be a concise statement and should identify the actual variables and theoretical issues under investigation.

• Author's name and affiliation: Every manuscript has a by-line consisting of two parts: The author's name and the author's institutional affiliation, which in this case is Drexel University.
• Running Head: An abbreviated version of the title that is printed at the top of the pages of a published article to identify the article. The head should be a maximum of 50 characters, including letters, punctuation, and spaces.

B. Abstract: A brief comprehensive summary of the contents of the article, 100-150 words. It allows the reader to survey the contents of an article quickly. An abstract reflects the purpose and content of the manuscript, without reporting evaluations or comments.

C. Introduction: The introduction presents the specific problem under study and describes the research strategy (not its methods). This is the section where you summarize the reference articles that you read. Contain all information regarding prior research and research strategy here. Before writing the introduction, consider:

• Is there a theoretical basis for your topic and hypothesis? What is it?
• What is the point of the study? What question(s) do you hope to answer?
• How does the hypothesis relate to the problem?
• How does the study relate to previous work in the area? (This is the area to include your research articles).

D. Methods: describes in detail how the study was conducted. It permits experienced investigators to replicate the study if they so desire. In the Methods section, there are three subsections that must be labeled:

• Subjects: This subsection answers three questions: 1) Who participated in the study? 2) How many participants were there? 3) How were they selected ?
• Apparatus: This subsection briefly describes the apparatus or materials used and their function in the experiment. Standard laboratory equipment, such as furniture, stopwatches, or screens can usually be mentioned without detail. Identify specialized equipment (such as Apple Macintosh Centris 610 Computer) by the firm's name and model of the equipment. Complex or custom made equipment should be illustrated by drawing, photo, or schematic. Test used, for example the Mirror Tracing computer program, should be named and cited, and there should be an explanation of what they are testing for and why.
• Procedure: This subsection summarizes each step in the execution of the research. Include the instruction to the participants, the formation of the groups, and the specific experimental manipulations. Summarize or paraphrase instructions, unless they are unusual or compose an experimental manipulation, in which case they may be presented verbatim. This section should also include the independent and dependent variable as well as controlled variables.

E. Results: This section summarizes the data collected and the statistical treatment of them.

• Data Analysis: Descriptive statistics are useful pieces of information to report. Both measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode) and variability (range, standard deviation) can be applied to the subjects in your sample and to the data you collect on your dependent variable. It is not necessary to define these descriptive statistics, only to report what their value is. Everyone MUST perform a test of significance on the data s/he collects on the dependent variable. Most IRP's will be able to use either the Sign test or the Mann-Whitney U Test, which are covered in your lab manual. If you think your experiment cannot use one of these, or if you are at all uncertain about which test to use, please go to your Lab Instructor and ask for assistance. There will be a substantial penalty for an IRP with no test of significance.
• Reporting of findings: Briefly state the main results of findings. Report the data in sufficient detail to justify the conclusions. Be sure to make a written statement in this section regarding the significance (or lack of) of the test you used. Be sure to state the p-level if you get a significant result. Discussing the implications of the results is not appropriate here. Mention all relevant results, including those that run counter to the hypothesis. Do not include individual scores or raw data. Tables and Figures (pictures and graphs) are a good way to present information to the reader in a summarizing way . However, the charts or graphs do not take the place of results explained in sentence form.

F. Discussion: This includes an interpretation and discussion of the implications of the results, as well as suggestions for future research in this area.

• Open the discussion with a clear statement of support or nonsupport for your original hypothesis. For example, if your hypothesis is "Scores under the quiet condition will be higher than scores under the distracted condition", and your statistical analysis yielded a significant result, then you might say, "The hypothesis that scores under the quiet condition will be higher than scores under the distracted condition was supported by the results. Therefore, it can be concluded that distraction did in fact impede performance". Of course, a similar statement should be made for insignificant results which reflect an unsupported hypothesis.
• Similarities and differences between your results and the work of others (references) should clarify and confirm your conclusions. In general, be guided by these questions:

1. What have I contributed?

2. How has my study helped to resolve the original problem?

3. What conclusions and theoretical implications can I draw from my study?

4. Were any variables not controlled for in this study which could have increased the level of error?

5. What can I suggest to future researchers interested in this area, given the strengths and weaknesses of the present experiment?

G. References: All citations in the manuscript must appear in the reference list, and conversely, all references must be cited in the text. In other words, If an article is referenced in this section, it must have been discussed in the text. Use APA format for writing both cites (in the text) and references. See pages 316-317 in your lab manual.

H. Appendix: An appendix, although seldom used, is helpful if the detailed description of certain material is distracting, or inappropriate to , the body of the paper. Some examples of material suitable for an appendix are: a new computer program, specifically designed for your research and unavailable elsewhere; a list of stimulus material - examples of questionnaires or release forms. Include an appendix only if it helps readers to understand, evaluate, or replicate the study.

9. Late IRP's will not be accepted unless special arrangements have been made with your Lab Instructor and approval is granted far in advance of the due date.

10. IRP Presentations: Prepare a five to ten minute presentation of your experiment including explanation of the following:

1. Your topic of investigation and background research
2. Your hypothesis and variables
3. The number and description of your subjects
4. A brief, but complete account of your procedures
5. The statistics you used to evaluate your hypothesis and the significance (if any) of the result
6. Your conclusions, including whether or not your hypothesis was supported, any problems you had, and possible improvements to your procedure.

Do not simply read your paper to the class. If you need notes, use index cards, or other similar guides. You may want to prepare a transparency to present with your results, or perhaps use the computer overhead to show graphs, etc. from your own disk. Please see your Lab Instructor for more suggestions.

Be prepared to respond to questions from the rest of the class, and from your Lab Instructor.

Amendments and changes in these guidelines are at the discretion of your Lab Instructor.

	IRP Checklist
	Title, including name and section
	Abstract
	Introduction with at least 2 citations from scientific journals (4 for team projects)
	Methods with Subjects, Apparatus, Design and Procedure
	Results with descriptove and inferential statistics
	Discussion with implications of results, applications to the "real world", and faults with study
	References in APA style
	Appendix (optional- if you have a measure you created, etc.)
	First page of journal articles (source, abstract, part of intro.)
	Approved IRP proposal

Last update: 24 June 1998