PSYC7901 – Research Design Report

Create an experimental design research study on a research question of your choice relevant to psychology that you can conduct on the people of The Islands (using the Tasks available within The Islands).

The Research Design Report should be 800-1000 words describing the research question, brief background theory, aims, hypotheses, research design, and methods (as outlined below) for the experiment that you create.

Particularly important is your explanation and justification of decisions made in the design and experiment procedures to minimize or control potential biases and confounding effects.

Assignment Requirements – Marking Criteria

Research question and theory (4 marks)

•   Give a clear and direct statement of a research question for an Experiment Design study that can be conducted on The Islands.

•    Briefly describe the theory that gives rise to the predictions (hypotheses) that will be tested. Refer to a specific theory in psychology or previous research (at least 1 reference/source).

Aims and Hypotheses (2 marks)

•   State the aim of the study.

•   State hypothesis (prediction based on the background theory).

Participant Selection, Research Design, and Experiment Procedure (8 marks)

•    Describe the number, selection criteria, and procedure for selection of participants.

•   State the independent variable and its levels, and how the independent variable is operationalized (i.e. the specific manipulations).

•   State the dependent variable and how it is operationalized (i.e. the specific measures).

•    Describe the experimental procedures.

Research Design Considerations (8 marks)

•    Explain the validity of the dependent and independent variables as operationalized.

•   Justify your choices for procedures to control potential biases or confounding effects:

o What are the potential biases or confounding effects, and how could they affect your dependent variable?

o How do your procedures control or minimize those effects?

Overall presentation (3 marks)

•   Clear structure and flow, following the structure in this task requirement sheet and the template document.

•   Overall readability – clear and easy to read, with appropriate grammar and sentence/paragraph structure.

•   Accurate APA 7th  edition formatting in text and reference list.

o Double spacing, 12-point font (Arial or Times New Roman), indented paragraphs

with no space between paragraphs, at least 2cm margins, title and headings in bold text and centred, subheadings in bold text and left-aligned.

Experiment Design – Independent Samples or Repeated Measures

You must create an experiment design study. That means you must have one variable that you manipulate (the independent variable) in order to test its effect on a variable that you measure (the dependent variable). E.g. testing the effect of caffeine consumption on attention.

In an experiment design study, you manipulate the independent variable to create different conditions or groups (levels of the independent variable) that you then compare. E.g. One group drinks espresso coffee before an attention test and another group drinks decaffeinated coffee before the attention test, thus comparing conditions of caffeine versus no-caffeine on attention.

Recommendation: We strongly recommend for this assignment that you keep your experiment design study simple, using only one independent variable with two levels to compare.

You must then decide whether to allocate different participants to each condition (independent samples / between-participants) or whether to have the same group of participants perform each condition (repeated measures / within-participants).

You must then consider what factors to control or match between participant groups (for independent samples) or how to counter-balance the order of conditions to control for any potential carry-over, practice, or order effects between conditions (for repeated measures).

“The Islands”

You must design an experiment that you can conduct using the tasks available on The Islands.

Some of the tasks on The Islands are suitable as interventions /manipulations that you can use as your independent variable. Some tasks give results / measurements that you can use as your dependent variable.

Example Tasks – Manipulations:

• Mental Tasks: Happy or Sad Memories 1 min

o Reliving happy/sad memories can induce a transient change in mood

• Mental Tasks: Monetary Incentive

o Will receive $1000 if they do very well in the next task can increase motivation

• Exercise: Relaxing Walk, Brisk Walk, Light Jogging, Run, High Intensity Interval Training

o Different levels of physical exertion may have effects on cognition or alertness

• Exercise: Yoga 30 mins

o May be relaxing/calming that might affect mental state

• Hot/Cold Drinks: Alcohol, caffeinated drinks, energy drinks, coffee, tea, sugar drinks

o Different substances may have effects on cognition, motor performance, alertness

• Environment: Nap (sleep), Read Book, Sit, Watch Television, Swedish Massage

o Different level of relaxation may affect cognition and performance

• Environment: Sit at -20°C, Sit at 40°C

o Different levels of “stress” on the body from extreme temperatures

• Environment: Sit with Pet Cat, Sit with Pet Crocodile, Sit with Pet Dog

o May cause different levels of arousal – relaxation or fear/stress

• Music: Classical Music, Country Music, Dance Music, Heavy Metal Music

o Listening to music may be calming/relaxing or activating/energising

Example Tasks – Measures:

These tasks all give quantitative measures (e.g. speed or number correct) that can be used for dependent variable measures of constructs such as attention, memory, or cognitive performance. Mental Tasks: Attention

•   Attention Test 10 mins

o Watch a series of letters appear and press a button each time the letter ‘Z’ is shown.

•   Code Transmission Test 10 mins

o Listen to digits being read out aloud and try to correctly report the digit that was shown directly before an occurrence of a pair of 5s.

•   Vigilance Test

o Find and circle all the Zs on a page of two thousand letters as quickly as possible Mental Tasks: Memory/Cognition

•   Comprehension Test 10 mins

o A challenging reading comprehension test that takes ten minutes to complete

•    Memory Game

o Complete a pairs memory game with 30 cards as quickly as possible.

•    Memory Test Cards

o Observe 10 cards drawn from a standard 52-card deck for two minutes and then write down all the cards that can be remembered in one minute

•    Memory Test Vocabulary

o Look at a list of 20 words for one minute and waiting for a further one minute and then seeing how many words can be recalled in 30 seconds

Mental Tasks: Problem-Solving/Cognition

•    Mental Arithmetic Basic 4 mins

o Answer 40 basic mental arithmetic questions in four minutes

•    Mental Arithmetic Difficult 4 mins

o Answer 40 difficult mental arithmetic questions in four minutes

•    Problem-Solving Basic 20 mins

o Complete a basic problem-solving test for 20 minutes

•    Puzzle Cube

o Solve a 3x3x3 puzzle cube as quickly as you can

Movement Performance

• Mental Tasks: Grooved Pegboard Test

o Rotating and placing 25 pegs in a board (manual dexterity)

• Coordination: Ruler Test

o Catching a 30 cm ruler as fast as they can when it is dropped and recording the distance it fell (reaction time)

• Coordination: Light Flash Test

o Pressing a button as fast as they can when seeing a light flash (reaction time)

Survey

•    Physical: How many hours did you sleep last night?

•    Mood: On a scale from 1 to 10, how ______ do you feel right now?

o Angry, anxious, confused, depressed, energetic, tired

Summary of Terms and Definitions

The following is summary of specific terminology and definitions for experiment design research. These are all fully explained within the Tutorial Video Content on The Scientific Method and

Research Design and covered in our weekly tutorial sessions on Research Design.

Independent variable and its levels

•   The independent variable is the factor that you manipulate in order to test its effect on the dependent variable. In this assignment, your independent variable will have two levels (two groups or conditions) that you compare. It will either be manipulated between participants in independent samples (two independent groups of participants) or within participants as repeated measures (two separate conditions that all participants perform).

Dependent variable

•   The dependent variable is what you quantify or measure. An experiment always examines the effect of the independent variable (that you control or manipulate) on the dependent variable (that you quantify or measure).

Operationalization of the variables

•   This is specifically how you define the levels of your independent variable and the specific measure you take for your dependent variable. How specifically do you manipulate the factor of interest that is your independent variable? How specifically do you measure or quantify the construct of interest that is your dependent variable?

Validity of the dependent and independent variables as operationalized

•   Validity in this context is the extent to which your dependent variable, as operationalized, measures the construct that you intend it to measure, and the extent to which the levels of your independent variable as operationalized manipulate the factor that you intend to manipulate.

Independent samples or Repeated measures

•   Whether your experiment conditions, or levels of your independent variable, are

conducted within the same participants (repeated measures) or in two independent samples of participants.

Controlling potential biases or confounding effects

•   These are factors other than the independent variable that could have a systematic effect on the dependent variable and cause differences between conditions. In a perfect experiment, we want any measured effect on the dependent variable (i.e. any difference between conditions or groups) to be attributable only to our independent variable (our experiment manipulation) and not any other potential factor.