Student ID:
BSc PSYCHOLOGY
PSYC0038
RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY
Lab Report 2
Title: Enter the Title of Your Lab Report Here
Word count: (should be between 1450 and 1650)
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Read before your start:
• This template includes 1) main headings and subheadings for structure, 2) brief guidelines about what to include in each section, and 3) links to online helping resources.
• The template is formatted (e.g., font, spacing) according to the APA style 6th edition.
• Use this template for the lab report 2 by typing/copy-and-paste into each section, or working directly on the tables and figures.
• For content and structure, you can also revisit the guidelines for Lab Report 1.
• IMPORTANT: Make sure to delete the guidelines as you work on the lab report, and to remove all of them before submission.
• Specific instructions:
o The main headings (e.g., “Introduction”) and subheadings (e.g., “Background”) are to help you structure the report. Keep all the main headings, but feel free to delete some of the subheadings if you want.
o Type in the title of the lab report in the title page and before the Introduction. For this lab report, feel free to come up with your own title.
o Include a very short phrase/title (no longer than 3 words) as the “running head” by changing the capitalised words at the upper-left corner starting next page. The running head should be all in capital letters (APA format).
o Include a few (2-4) keywords after the abstract (e.g., “Stroop effect”).
[NOTE: Again, delete this page before submission!!]
Abstract
What is the problem? Outline the purpose, research questions and hypotheses. What has been done? Explain your method. What did you discover? Summarize the key findings and conclusions. What do the findings mean? Summarize the discussion and recommendations. Keep it between 150 to 250 words.
Keywords: keyword 1, keyword 2, keyword 3
Enter the Title of Your Lab Report Here
Introduction
In the opening paragraph(s), you should address questions such as “What is the broader context?” and “Why is the topic important?”. Start broadly but narrow down quickly. Before moving on to the literature review, provide a brief overview about the aim of the current study.
Note: It is always important to consider who your readers are. For this lab report, assume that the readers are Level 5 university students in psychology, who have completed a module on cognitive psychology.
Background
Provide a comprehensive review of the literature. When doing so, cite each source according to APA 6th style. For a detailed guide on APA 6th style in-text citation, click this link below:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_style_introduction.html
Note: It might be helpful to adapt an “argument-led” approach here. This means to outline the findings and evidence from previous studies before weighing them up (e.g., discussing them in further details). This is especially helpful for reviewing different findings or theories on the same topic.
The current study
Link the current study to the previous research. State the research question and the hypotheses/predictions.
Note: Before you lay out the hypotheses/predictions, provide just enough details about the study so that there is context for the readers to understand your hypotheses/predictions.
Note: Do not include statistical hypotheses here (e.g., H1 and H0). Instead, describe your hypotheses/predictions in conceptual terms. In general, try to write at a “conceptual/theoretical” level in the Introduction.
Method
Participants
Describe key information (e.g., sample size n, gender, age, English as first language) about the participants of the current study.
Design
Briefly describe the design of the current study.
Materials
Describe the task. What are the stimuli? How many stimuli are there? How were the stimuli presented in each trial? Provide an overview before going into specifics in each condition.
Note: Don’t forget to give each of the three conditions below a proper heading.
Condition 1. Describe the materials in Condition 1. Since you already provided an overview, you only need fill in the details now. Try to avoid redundancy.
Condition 2. Describe the stimuli in Condition 2. Focus on how they are different from Condition 1. Try to avoid any overlap or redundancy.
Condition 3. Describe the materials in Condition 3.
Note: It’s important to provide an accurate description of the experimental materials. The challenge is to be just detailed enough while keeping it brief.
Procedure
Describe how the study was carried out. Write this part like a walk-through. Anything not covered in the Materials section can also be mentioned here.
Results
First, briefly describe the data for the analysis, such as what are the data and how they are scored. Mention any pre-processing (e.g., cleaning, screening) done prior to the analysis.
Next, provide results of descriptive analysis using a table (Table 1) or/and a figure (Figure 1). For this lab report, you must include at least one table or figure. To quote the tables or figure in the text, follow the guideline from Quick (2011, p. 200):
Do NOT write in the text “the table on page 17” or “the table above or below.” The correct method would be to refer to the table number like this: “(see Table 1)” or “Table 1 shows…”
Also, make sure that you do NOT insert the table or the figure here in the text – leave them where they are in this template, that is, after the References and before the Appendix.
Finally, describe the results of hypothesis testing. Mention each statistical testing result followed by a brief interpretation about what the result suggests. For a guideline on how to properly report the results, click the link below: http://ich.vscht.cz/~svozil/lectures/vscht/2015_2016/sad/APA_style2.pdf
Note: In both the Method and Results sections, be clear and objective.
Note: describe the procedure or measure using proper technical terms (e.g., trials, reaction time), and the results using statistical terms (e.g., significance, p values).
Discussion
A clear structure should be followed. First summarize the findings and compare the findings to the predictions/hypotheses that you mentioned earlier in the Introduction.
Then, start to explain the findings using psychological concepts (e.g., attention, automatic processes) and theories. Compare the current findings to those of previous research that you presented in the Introduction. Discuss the theoretical implications of the findings. Go into details without losing the big picture.
Next, discuss potential limitations to the current study and potential future directions.
Finally, try end the paper with a brief, concluding summary.
Note: Like in the Introduction, in this section you should again try to write at a “conceptual” or “theoretical” level. Avoid mentioning specific statistical results (e.g., significance and p values).
References
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year of publication). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number (issue number), pages. [Journal article]
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher. [Book]
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In A. A. Editor & B. B. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pages of chapter). Location: Publisher. [Book chapter]
Author, A. A. & Author B. B. (Date of publication). Title of page [Format description when necessary]. Retrieved from https://www.someaddress.com/full/url/ [Online resource]
Quick, D. (2011). Making tables and figures. In G.A. Morgan, N. L. Leech, G. W. Gloeckner, & K. C. Barrett, IBM SPSS for introductory statistics: Use and interpretation (4th. Ed.). New York: Routledge. [the source that I’ve cited in the template]
For more detailed guide on APA 6th style reference and citation, click this link:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_style_introduction.html
Table 1
Enter Table Title Here
Column A Column B Column C
Row 1
Row 2
Row 3
Note. Work on the above table while referring to the results of SPSS output. Do NOT copy and paste tables directly from SPSS output. Change the table above (e.g., delete/add rows/columns, adjust borders and dividing lines) as you see fit. Format the table as you see fit. To learn more about how to format a table in Word, click here: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/format-a-table-e6e77bc6-1f4e-467e-b818-2e2acc488006.
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For your interest, here is an example of a table in APA format (Quick, 2011, p. 201):
Additional guidance could be found in Quick (2011), which is available through the following link:
https://web.cortland.edu/hendrick/APA%20Making%20Tables%20and%20Figures.pdf
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Figure 1. Enter figure legends and captions here. Again, do not copy and paste SPSS output. Instead, work directly on the figure above (by double clicking it), or make a similar figure using Excel. To learn about how to format a figure (i.e., chart) in Excel, click the link below:
https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/format-elements-of-a-chart-b6c787d5-f90a-41d2-a901-9d3ed9f0dbf0
To learn about how to create a figure (i.e., chart) in Excel, click the link below:
https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/create-a-chart-from-start-to-finish-0baf399e-dd61-4e18-8a73-b3fd5d5680c2
Appendix
All relevant SPSS outputs should be included in the Appendix. It’s better to copy and paste the SPSS outputs as images so that they don’t interfere with the formatting.