Instruction
The Introduction should lead up to and end with a hypothesis – a specific prediction that could be tested by new research. The hypothesis should be clearly stated and should be connected to and supported by the research that you have just described.
Your next step will be to design the actual steps of research that would allow you to test your hypothesis. You will write this up as a ‘Methods’ section, just like you have seen in the research articles that you have been reading. You will describe: • the participants that you would need,
o About how many? What types of people? How would you select them?
• the measurement instruments that you would use
o describe them and cite evidence that they are valid/reliable
o best to use measurements that already exist (instead of trying to invent new ones) – your literature review should point you to examples.
• procedures for collecting
o step-by-step instructions
o consider what you could do to avoid bias and collect high-quality data
• analyzing the data
o what statistical procedures/tests would be appropriate?
Here is where you will really put what you have learned in the class to work! Draw on what you have learned about research techniques from the book AND what you have learned from reading the other research articles in your research review in the introduction to make decisions about the best ways to collect data. You will NOT actually have to do the research, so you don’t have to worry about actually being able to get your hands on the people or materials that will be needed. Your main focus will be thinking about pros and cons of the methods to find reliable and valid methods that match your question. * What type of design would be best – Survey? Experiment? Something else? * What type of measurement system should you use – do standard instruments already exist? Are they reliable and valid? * What type of statistical tests would help you determine if your results are statistically meaningful – means and standard deviations? correlations? t-tests? The report should be done in APA 6 style (referencing, page formatting, etc.) and sources must be cited clearly. The Introduction and Methods section should total 10-12 pages. The title page, abstract and reference sections will be additional pages.