-you interact with participants

-you create the environment

-you ask participants to perform tasks that may not be familiar to them

-other factors like environment may come into play

-what pop you are interested in examining

-how you select a sample that is representative of this pop

-could your pop include people with charac that could be extraneous variables

-does your sample generalize to the population

-what about other populations

-the ability of a sample size to show main effects and interactions of a given size

-small effects need lots of participants, large effects need fewer participants

-the more IVs you have, the more participants you will need

-self reports

-behavioral/performance measures

-observation data

self reports

collected either by written/types responses or interviews

(may want a backup b/c may not be completely accurate)

Behavioral/Performance Measures

should be collected with specific observational definitions of variables; often includes video or audio recording for re-coding later

(want a backup)

1. Write a procedure

2. Consent form

3. Instructions

4. The experiment

5. Debriefing the participants 

writing the procedure

step-by-step description of how the experiment should be conducted

should include:

-how the area should be prepared before the participant enters

-exact wording of the instructions

-dress and demeanor of experimenter

-first part of experiment= pass out consent form

-basic procedure

-possible benefits and risks

-contact information

-should be clear, unambiguous, and spepcific without overloading memory

-pictures or examples can help

-use common vocab

-practice trails help

-find good distance away from participant (not too close, not too far)

Descriptive statistics

-tell you about the overall pattern of the data but cannot tell you about significant differences

-must include mean, median, mode, SD, SE, and range

-by using mean and SD you can identify outliers

-any data point that is beyond 3 standard deviations of the mean in either direction 

-can skew data and increase variability

-removing outliers is called trimming data

-tests that determine whether you should reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis

-includes t tests and F tests

used for within participants design: 2 groups, 1 DV 

(like pre and post test)

-compare variability

-group differences/individual differences

-want group diff to be big

-indiv diff should be small so we can notice group diff

-standard level is p < 0.05

-means sample you tested would only be selected randomly from the population 5 out of 100 samples

-if p < 0.05 you reject the null

-if p > 0.05 you fail to reject the null

-if it is close, your findings might be marginally significant

-inc ease of reading comprehension for the audience

-allows readers to easily scan for important points

-encourages detail where needed

-first published in 1929

-used by researchers in education, psychology, business, and nursing

-changed with technology

- 1 inch margins, 12 point Times New Roman font

-Arial font for figures and labels

-double spaced

-title page

-abstract

-introduction

-method section

-results section

-discussion section

-references

-appendices

-title

-your name

-institutional affiliation

-starts on page 2 and has the title "Abstract"

-limited to 150-250 words

-main topics of article, justification for the study, basic method, preview of the findings, and possible implications

-

-NEVER titled "Introduction"

-instead center full title at top of page

-present the problem and describe research strategy

-should end with your hypothesis

-center and bold the word "Method" (for single experiments)

-subsections: participants, materials, design and procedure

-who was in your sample

-how many

-how you recruited

-inclusion/exclusion

-mean and SD of age

-breakdown of gender

-participants voluntarily participated

-include types of computers

-number of trials, font size of any visual stimuli, loudness of auditory stimuli

-info about environment

-do not include order of presentation

-inform the reader of the experimental design as well as detailed description of how the participant experienced the experiment

-first step should be signing the consent form

-discuss the data gathered

-start by describing tests and criteria you used, any data clean up techniques used, and basic descriptive statistics

-next describe analytical statistics; state main effects of the t and F statements

-describe in everyday terms what the main effect means

-state any interactions

-never include your opinion

-tables include actual numbers (usu mean and SD)

-figures show the numbers using lines or bars

-each table or figure should be on its own page

-tables first then figures

-state purpose of study and major findings from results section

-include interpretation of the results section

-discuss other possible interpretations

-list any problems

-talk about why it is important to outside world

-end with implications for future

-gives reader more info about stimuli or tests done with the data that is not viral to understanding of manuscript

-Labeled Appendix A... unless there is only one, then it is just labeled Appendix

-any time you use a direct quote or summary from someone else's publication, you must cite it

-last name and year of publication

cite both names each time it is referenced

-ex: Jones and Smith (2005) or (Jones & Smith, 2005) 

-cite all last names first time you cite it

-each additional time cite first author's last name followed by et al.

-should have "References" centered and bold at the top of a new page

-list citation in alphabetical order by last name of first author