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Psychology Research Methods and Design

Psychology Research Methods and Design

Part 1:

Write a brief (1 page summary statement) for what terms come to mind when you think of student success. This is a broad concept and you are tasked with defining it within your own framework. Look to the literature (MavScholar) and investigate the ways that researchers are talking about ‘student success’ at the college/university level.

  1. Define your conceptual variable (student success).
  2. Identify 3 peer-reviewed papers that have investigated the concepts/variables you identify. How did the author’s of these papers define
  3. Provide your own operational variables and measures that you’d use in order to investigate the concept of student success.
  4. Given your definition and measures – provide a list of 5 key words

Part 2:

You will be conducting a research study on student success. Here you will develop a set of questions (5 questions) that you will ask participants regarding student success. Rank order your questions from 1 – 5 (where 1 is the question you are most interested in).

Final Research Project Grading Rubric

Title Page:

  • The title page is appropriately formatted with correct information
  • Title page has running head in all capital letters

Introduction

  • First Paragraph provides general overview of study
  • First paragraph states Main Idea (Central Issue of the paper)
  • Second paragraph describes 1-2 studies that support
  • Third paragraph describes 1-2 studies that support
  • Fourth paragraph links 2nd & 3rd paragraphs
  • Fourth paragraph summarizes design of class study
  • Fourth paragraph states correct hypothesis for class study

Methods

  • The Correct number, sex and age of participants was stated
  • The site of participant recruitment was listed
  • The tests used in the study were described in adequate detail and appropriately cited
  • The procedures were described in enough detail to replicate study including statistical analyses

Results

  • Paragraph accurately describes main findings of study
  • Tables/Figures are appropriately formatted with correct data
  • P-values are stated

Discussion

  • First paragraph or two summarizes findings of class study
  • Findings are explained and related to previous research
  • Limitations of study are discussed
  • Future studies are suggested

References

  • List contains class study paper plus 3-5 other peer-reviewed articles
  • Articles are listed in APA style
  • References match citations in report

Citations

  • citations are included for all references to previous research and articles on which the class study was based
  • All citations are in appropriate APA format (number of authors, positioning of reference in paragraph.

Formatting

  • Running head on each page
  • Double-spaced, 12-pt font (Times, Arial, Helvetica), 1-inch margins
  • Grammar and spelling checked
  • Section headings are correctly placed on page and formatted
  • Pages are organized in order listed below:

Title Page (page 1)

Pages of Text (page 2)

  1. Intro
  2. Method
  3. Results
  4. Discussion

References (on new page)

Tables/Figures with captions (each on separate page)

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