You will design/propose an experimental study to investigate a psychological research question that you think is relevant and important to our understanding of mediation procedures. Note that you will not collect data as part of this assignment.

You will write up your research proposal in APA format. The research paper will consist of two sections:

Introduction 15%
Method 15%

We will spend some time in class discussing the appropriate structure and content of the Introduction and Method sections. The final paper will be a minimum of 6 pages (maximum 8 pages) with at least 5 references from peer-reviewed academic journals. Your references should be listed in a third section, the References section.


What you should be thinking about:
What needs to be investigated?

Effect of
IV
on
DV
What IV will you manipulate?
What DV will you measure?
How will you operationalise your variables?
How will you define your variables for the purposes of this study?

Example: Effect of mediation on perceptions of procedural fairness
IV = mediation vs court
Manipulate
DV = perceptions of fairness
Measure
Operationalisations:
IV: mediation vs court procedure
DV: multi-item rating scale of procedural fairness







Writing the paper

6-8 pages (not including title page)
APA format
At least 5 references
Introduction
Method
References

General Guidelines

Three principles
Clarity “say exactly what you want to say as directly as possible”
Easier said than done
Allow time for editing

Parts of a paper


 Title/Authors
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Method
 Design
 Participants
 Materials
 Procedure
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 Appendices*

Title

 Try to catch the attention of the reader
 Include the most important words: IVs and DVs
 Keep it short!
 Informative (but dry): Individual differences and the suggestibility of human memory
 A bit less dry: Now you see it, now you don’t: Inhibiting recall and recognition of scenes

Introduction
Sets the stage for the Method
Literature background
What other researchers have done
Include at least 5 papers
Critique of research
Place your research in a context
Justification for study
Why you’re doing what you’re doing
Leads up to the research question
Derive your hypotheses

Method

Describes how you conducted your research
Should allow a reader to replicate your research
Conduct a similar study
Should allow a reader to judge the validity of your conclusions
Should be divided into subsections
Participants (NOT subjects)
How many?
Who were they - how were they recruited?
Age, gender
Anyone excluded/not eligible? Why?
Materials
E.g., video-taped stimulus material
Questionnaires
Describe fully or reproduce in appendices
Design
Describes what type of study was carried out
What kind of study was it – experimental, non-experimental, quasi-experimental?
Yours should be experimental
IVs and DVs
Operational definitions
Procedure
Steps in the experiment, in chronological order
Describes in detail how the experiment was carried out
Enough detail for someone else to reproduce your study
Refer back to the other subsections of the Method