the grade only

FINAL PROPOSAL TIPS

Terminology

¨ Affect is usually a verb ¤ “Quality of graphics affects perceived distance.”

¨ Effect is usually a noun ¤ “The effect of Alzheimer’s disease on mood is…”

¨ In a correlational study: ¤ Independent variables are called predictors ¤ Dependent variables are usually called criterion variables ¤ Do not use ”affect(s)” or “causes” in a correlational study

n Cause and effect only in true experimental design

¨ Never say hypothesis/theory “proven” or “confirmed” ¤ Data can support hypotheses/theories OR disprove them

Literature Review

¨ Summarizing articles ¤ What’s the take home point of each study? ¤ Give enough info that reader knows what the

researchers investigated and highlight things that will distinguish your study from theirs

¤ Summarizing past studies should lead to a description of how your proposed study is different

¤ Avoid directly quoting!

Citations

¨ Secondary sources ¤ Don’t need to cite general references ¤ If you’re referring to a study that is cited by a primary

source… n Best to read the secondary source and cite it as normal

primary source n Second best is to use a parenthetical citation for the primary

source (but it doesn’t count as one of you five sources) n “Thompson (2009, as cited in Evans & Smith, 2017) found that…”

where Thompson is the secondary source n List both in citation list

Overall

¨ Make sure you identify your predictor/independent/subject(quasi-independent) variable(s) AND your criterion/dependent variable

¨ Predict the relationship between them! ¨ Keep it simple

¤ Correlation ¤ Independent groups ¤ Repeated measures ¤ Factorial design