The affect colour has on people

Introduction to Research in the Health Sciences Semester 2 2019

Laboratory Report Information Sheet

Due 4pm Friday 11th October 2019

Submit the Laboratory Report electronically to the Introduction to Research in the Health Sciences Canvas online dropbox in .doc, docx or .rtf format, ensuring you include your student number in the

file name. Appendices should be included at the end of the document after the references and be clearly labelled.

You will analyse the data from a study on the effect of colour on compliance behaviour (doing what

is asked or expected of you) and write it up as a laboratory report for assessment. The laboratory

report will be 1500 words in length (+/- 10%) and will be worth 35% of your grade in this unit.

Over previous decades many studies have sought to determine the effect of colour on people’s

behaviour, attitudes, thoughts and abilities. There is evidence that people associate the colour red

with danger (Braun & Silver, 1995) and so when presented with red they often do things to try to

avoid negative outcomes for themselves (Elliot et al., 2007; Mehta & Zhu, 2009). However, a recent

study suggests that the effect of the colour red on behaviour may depend on the personality of the

person – particularly that red may cause people to act more in line with their default tendencies

(Mehta, Demmers, van Dolen & Weinberg, 2017). Hence someone who is in general more cautious

will be even more so when exposed to red, while someone who is in general more impulsive will be

more likely to engage in risky behaviours when exposed to red.

Mehta et al. (2017) in Experiment 2 looked at the difference in compliance attitudes between

people high in sensation seeking (people who seek varied, novel, complex, and intense sensations

and experiences, and are more willing to take physical, social, legal, and financial risks to get those

experiences) compared with those low in sensation seeking. They found that when exposed to the

colour red, people high in sensation seeking reported more positive attitudes to non-compliance

than those with lower sensation seeking. So high sensation seeking people agreed with statements

such as “In general, it is nonsense to stick to norms” (rather than “In general, it is good to stick to

norms”) more than low sensation seeking people, but only when exposed to the colour red. There

was no difference found in compliance attitudes between high and low sensation seekers when

shown the colour white. Figure 1 in Experiment 2 of the paper shows this effect visually. This

suggests that exposing people to the colour red may make them more likely to be non-compliant (go

against instructions or expectations) but only for people who are higher sensation seekers.

In the current research we wanted to investigate whether there was an effect of colour on

compliance behaviour (how much people follow instructions). The above research only examined

peoples’ attitudes towards complying, rather than whether they behaved in a way that complied. In

our research, participants (students in a first-year research methods unit) were asked to complete

10 specific exercises each day for 10 days (including crunches, plank, high knee runs and burpees

etc.). They were randomised to receive the exercise instructions in either a red booklet or a blue

booklet. The number of exercises actually completed was recorded over the 10 days (giving a score

out of 100 based on 10 exercises over 10 days). Before they started the study participants were

provided with an information sheet and consent form, were asked demographic questions, and were

given a sensation seeking questionnaire (Brief Sensation-Seeking Scale) - based on their responses to

the sensation seeking questionnaire they were classified as either high sensation seekers (if they

scored above the mean) or low sensation seekers (if they scored below the mean).

We want to see whether there was a difference in number of exercises completed between those

who received the red booklet compared with the blue booklet (Analysis 1). We also want to see

whether, of those who received the red booklet, whether there was a difference between those

classified as high sensation seekers and low sensation seekers (Analysis 2).

The data from the study is available on the Canvas website as the file

‘Laboratory_Report_Data.omv,’ in the ‘Laboratory Report’ section. Note that this file is a Jamovi

data file as we have been using in tutorials. The data file contains the following variables:

Name Label

IDnum Participant identification number

Age Participant age

Gender Participant gender

Condition The condition the participant is in (Red or Blue)

SensationSeeking

Categorisation of each participant based on scores on Brief Sensation-

Seeking Scale as high (above the mean) or low (below the mean)

Compliance Number of the requested exercises completed (out of 100)

You need to write up this study as a laboratory report, including finding background literature

relevant to the effect of colour on compliance behaviour, developing appropriate hypotheses,

analysing the data to test those hypotheses, and drawing conclusions about the findings. You need

to use format your results in the same way as demonstrated in tutorials. You will also need to

include the output from your analyses as an Appendix. The laboratory report needs to be formatted

as indicated by the template which can be found in Canvas labelled ‘Laboratory Report Template’ -

marks will be deducted for not conforming to this formatting style. One reference (Mehta,

Demmers, van Dolen & Weinberg, 2017) is provided as a starting reference, and is available on

Canvas. You are expected to find and cite at least THREE references IN ADDITION to the one

already provided. This means you will have four research articles cited in your laboratory report and

in the reference list. Although in general it is better to use more recent references, you will not be

penalised for using older references.

References (in text citations and reference list) can be formatted according to APA or Vancouver

rules. You will have learnt how to reference properly in your professional orientation unit. You can

choose whether you use APA or Vancouver referencing.

For information about how to reference in APA format you can go to

- The APA style guide which is one of your recommended texts - the UC library has copies

- Go to https://canberra.libguides.com/referencing/apa

For information about how to reference in Vancouver style you can go to

- https://canberra.libguides.com/c.php?g=599301&p=4149536

The UC Library provides a comprehensive Referencing Guide which students can access at

- https://canberra.libguides.com/referencing

The word limit for this assignment is 1500 words +/- 10% (excluding title page, abstract, references

and appendices). The laboratory report will be marked according to the rubric below.

Please do not leave writing or submission until the last minute. You are likely to encounter delays

uploading assessments onto Canvas if everyone is trying to do so at the same time. You should aim

to load your laboratory report at least an hour before it is due as 1 minute late is still 5%.

More detailed information about how to write a laboratory report is available from:

- The marking rubric below. Ensure your laboratory report meets each of these guidelines.

- A video including slides providing a step-by-step guide as to how to write each section of the

laboratory report is available on Canvas, along with a handout.

- One of the recommended texts Haslam and McGarty (2014) includes a detailed explanation

of how to write a report and an example laboratory report (Appendix A).

Extensions

Extensions for the laboratory report will only be granted in exceptional circumstances and

documentary evidence will need to be provided. Extensions must be emailed to Carly

([email protected]) using the appropriate request form (can be found on Canvas or at

http://www.canberra.edu.au/current-students/forms) and documentation no later than 4pm 10th

October, 2019 (no later than 24 hours before the due date). Please refer to the Unit Outline for a

description of the extension request process and penalties for late submissions.

Introduction to Research in the Health Sciences (11398)

LABORATORY REPORT MARKING RUBRIC

Title

• Appropriately describes study (less than 12 words)

/0.5

Abstract

• Summary of study (less than 120 words)

/1.5

Introduction

• Introduction to topic

• Review of literature

• Statement of hypotheses (research, null and alternative) for Analysis 1

• Statement of hypotheses (research, null and alternative) for Analysis 2

/1 /4

/1.5 /1.5

/8

Method

• Participants fully described

• Design fully described

• Materials and procedure fully described

/2

/1.5 /2.5

/6

Results

• Analysis 1 conducted and presented

• Figure representing Analysis 1

• Analysis 2 conducted and presented

• Figure representing Analysis 2

/3 /2 /3 /2

/10

Discussion

• Results summarised and interpreted in light of hypotheses

• ‘Fit’ with previous findings and implications of results

• Limitations of study and specific future directions discussed

/2 /2 /2 /6

References

• In text citations appropriately formatted

• Complete list in APA or Vancouver format

/1 /1 /2

Appendices

• Output of Jamovi analyses (located at the end of the document after reference list)

/2

Presentation

• Template used such that appropriate formatting throughout

• Correct spelling and grammar, appropriate sentence and paragraph construction, writing style appropriate, text clear and concise

/2 /2 /4

TOTAL /40

Less any late penalty for those students without an approved extension. No specific marks will be deducted for reports over 1500 words, but the marker will stop reading once the report has reached 10% over the word count (1650 words) and will award marks based only on what has been read to that point. Word count does NOT include title, abstract, references section or appendices.