Positive Psychology

Method Section Template

• Participants

• Design

• Materials

• Procedure

You can combine the participants and design section as there is only one participant (you!).

Participant and design

Include any demographic information you might consider important – age, gender, nationality, place

of residence.

What design did you use?

What is the independent variable and dependent variable? There may be more than one of each of

these.

Materials

What scale(s) did you use?

How is the scale calculated. Is it Likert? How is it numbered? What does 1 stand for compared to

the highest number? Give an example of one or two questions. Are any scores reversed?

Include any validation information on the scale (cronbach’s alpha, content validity, internal

consistency etc).

Were any materials required for the PPI? E.g. gratitude jar.

Procedure

This is a step by step outline of the process from the perspective of the participant in chronological

order. It’s the report’s recipe. The section that makes sure the research is replicable.

Start with ethical approval and then move on to each step of the process.

How was the happiness scale undertaken? Was it online or printed and completed by hand?

Did you calculate the score at this point or wait until the end?

If you took another questionnaire include it here.

How was the PPI undertaken? Daily? 3 times per week? Time of day? Duration? Did you have to go

somewhere?

Information about the retest. How was it standardised?