4-2 Final Project Milestone Two: Outline

PSY 327: Final Project Guidelines and Rubric

Overview For your final project in this course, you will create a presentation accompanying a memo to explain how contemporary persuasion research could be used to persuade an audience to change their behavior.

The project is divided into two milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Two and Four. The final submission will occur in Module Seven.

Outcomes This assessment will assess your mastery with respect to the following course outcomes:

 Evaluate social influence and persuasion attempts for their adherence to theoretical principles

 Analyze the impact of social influence and persuasion attempts on behavior of self and others

 Utilize principles of persuasion and social influence to design persuasive attempts

 Assess the ethical implications of persuasive and social influence strategies

 Compare and contrast the impact of audience, source, and message on success of social influence and persuasion

Prompt Your project should answer the following prompt: Imagine that you were hired as a persuasion consultant by the director of an organization that needs to convince an audience to change their behavior. What evidence-based approach would you recommend?

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

1. Select an organization and identify the desired behavioral change and who it is desired from. o For example, a charitable organization that wants to increase donations, a social movement that wants to change voting behavior, or an organization

that wants to change the behavior of its members or employees. Do not limit yourself to these examples—be creative!

2. Use a presentation to “sell” your design. a) Propose several persuasion techniques that will produce the desired behavior. b) Clearly explain how proposed tactics will work, what techniques you are applying, and why you think they will work. c) Identify what behavioral change you predict will occur. d) Clearly explain why the proposed tactics will work. Delineate what source, message, and audience effects you anticipate and how the strategy will

address them.

e) Explain ethical concerns with your approach and propose ways to address them. f) Use persuasive communication to ensure that the project provides a compelling discussion of the design that communicates its effectiveness to the

reader. g) Utilize presentation software: Presentation is clear and well composed. Students may use the presentation program of their choice (e.g.,

PowerPoint, Prezi), but the final product must be submitted in either PPT or PDF format.

3. Write a 2–3-page memo to accompany your presentation. a) Documentation of the literature (course materials and peer-reviewed journal articles) that you drew on to formulate your approach b) Analysis of components of persuasion: Reiterate plan to persuade others to change their behavior. c) Analysis of proposed approach: Explain why your plan will produce the desired behavioral change. d) Inclusion of articles used to design approach: Provide an annotated bibliography with MORE THAN FOUR article citations and abstracts. e) Articulation of response: Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization.

Milestones Milestone One: Identify Behavioral Change In task 2-2, you will submit Milestone One: Identify Behavioral Change. The final project for the course is to apply the principles of persuasion to a real-world context. You must apply course outcomes to create a changed behavior in a person that is either troublesome or to increase a behavior in a person that is positive. You should select an organization or cause that might have a need to apply persuasive principles to change a behavior. You should also identify the desired behavioral change you wish to design a proposal to lead to. This milestone is graded with the Milestone One Rubric.

Milestone Two: Outline In task 4-2, you will submit an outline of your final project. This outline should specify the structure you anticipate employing for your final project and should include more than four peer-reviewed journal articles. You should include the abstract to each citation the first time each article is mentioned in the outline and can use the citation (in APA format) in all other mentions. You should clearly link the research to the proposed persuasive techniques. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.

Final Submission: Presentation A ccompanied by a Memo In task 7-2, you will submit a presentation accompanied by a memo. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This final submission will be graded using the Final Product Rubric (below).

The following resources may be helpful for you as you format your presentation:

Principles of an Effective Presentation:

 You may utilize a product such as Microsoft’s PowerPoint, Adobe Captivate, Prezi, or Google slides to create your presentation.

 There are various template designs that you can find on the web for your presentation. However, first consider your presentation from the perspective of your audience prior to selecting a specific style. Distracting backgrounds, large blocks of text, all-uppercase fonts, elaborate font styles, grammatical errors, and misspellings are distracting. Be consistent with the style of text, bullets, and sub-points in order to support a powerful presentation that allows your content to be the focus.

 Each slide should include your key point(s). Do not place large blocks of text on the visual. Your presentation is not a means of presenting a short paper. In an actual presentation, you would not “read” from your slides but rather use them as prompts.

 Any notes or narration you would use in delivering this presentation to a group should be listed in the “notes” section of the slide.

 References should be listed at the bottom of the slide in slightly smaller text.

 Use clip art, AutoShapes, pictures, charts, tables, and diagrams to enhance but not overwhelm your content.

 Be mindful of the intended audience and seek to assess the presentation’s effectiveness by gauging audience comprehension (when possible)

Types of Presentation Media: Text, charts/graphs, photos, clipart, video, audio, links, word clouds, infographics, flowcharts, interactive components, animation, maps, transitions, graphic organizer, screenshots, storyboards, illustrations

Below are some links that offer helpful tips and examples for developing your presentations:

Purdue Owl – Designing Effective Power Points Making PowerPoint Slides 10 PowerPoint Presentation Tips Really Bad PowerPoint Official Prezi Tutorials 10 Tips to Help Master Prezi Harvard Business: Create an Effective Presentation

Deliverable Milestones

Milestone Deliverables Module Due Grading

1 Milestone One: Identify Behavioral Change

Two Graded separately; Milestone One Rubric

2 Milestone Two: Final Project Outline Four Graded separately; Milestone Two Rubric

Final Submission: Presentation Accompanied by a Memo

Seven Graded separately; Final Product Rubric

Rubric

Requirements of Submission:

Presentation Students should submit a well-designed presentation with a persuasive tone that convinces the audience that the proposed techniques will work. The amount of information presented per slide should be appropriately brief, and the notes field should be used to provide additional detail.

Memo Students should write a short (2–3-page) memo that accompanies the presentation. The memo should include a brief literature review of the research that supports the approach; an analysis of the source, audience, and message effects; and an annotated bibliography that includes the abstracts for all research that was used to formulate the approach.

Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (85%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value

Presentation:

Proposal of Persuasive Techniques

Meets “Proficient” criteria and accurately applies and specifically describes multiple persuasion techniques

Proposes several persuasion techniques that will produce the desired behavior

Proposes one or two persuasion techniques that will produce the desired behavior

Does not propose persuasion techniques or proposes techniques that will likely not produce the desired behavior

4

Clearly explain why the proposed tactics

will work

Meets “Proficient” criteria and evidence is used from course research AND peer-reviewed journals to educate audience on proposed techniques and reasoning

Uses evidence from course research or peer- reviewed journals to educate the audience on proposed techniques and why they will work

Mentions evidence from course research or peer-reviewed journals, but these are poorly linked to the proposed techniques and/or do not educate the audience on proposed techniques and why they will work

Does not use evidence from course research or peer- reviewed journals to educate the audience on proposed techniques and why they will work

16

Identification of Behavioral Change

Meets “Proficient” criteria and identifies what behavioral change he/she predicts will occur and comprehensively explains why he/she predicts this; discussion is well- developed enough that a program could be implemented from the proposal

Clearly identifies what behavioral change he/she predicts will occur and comprehensively explains why he/she predicts this

Identifies a potential behavior change he/she predicts will occur and offers some explanation of why he/she predicts this

Does not clearly identify what behavioral change he/she predicts will occur OR comprehensively explains why he/she predicts this

8

Explanation of Ethical Concerns

Meets “Proficient” criteria and explains the ethical concerns that are present in the research design and lays out what the concerns are, why it is a concern for this particular design, and what steps can be taken to minimize concerns; discussion is well developed and reflects mastery of course materials and extensive thought about thetopic

Student explains the ethical concerns that are present in the research design and lays out what the concerns are, why it is a concern for this particular design, and what steps can be taken to minimize concerns

Student discusses ethical concerns and potential resolutions at a general level, but does not relate them to specific features of the design proposed

Student does not explain the ethical concerns that are present in the research design or lay out what the concerns are, why it is a concern for this particular design, or what steps can be taken to minimize concerns

16

Persuasiveness of Communication

Meets “Proficient” criteria and provides a compelling discussion of the design that communicates its effectiveness to the reader; audience is left convinced that the approach would work. Discussion is well-thought-out and comprehensive

Provides a compelling discussion of the design that communicates its effectiveness to the reader. Audience is left convinced that the approach would work

Attempts to persuade the reader of the effectiveness of the design but may fail to do so

Does not attempt to persuade the reader of the effectiveness of the design

6

Strength of Presentation

Meets “Proficient” criteria, and presentation is clear and well composed. There are no grammar/spelling errors. Slides are used for main points and notes are used to provide additional detail about the key points. Overall, presentation utilizes the strengths of the chosen presentation software (ability to easily communicate summary information) while avoiding its downfalls (excessive information presented, unnecessary transitions, etc.)

Presentation is clear and well composed. There are very few grammar/spelling errors, which do not impact the ability to follow the presentation. Slides are used for main points and notes are used to provide additional detail about the key points

Presentation clarity and composition could be improved. There are grammar/spelling errors that distract from the presentation, or slides and notes are not well utilized

Presentation clarity and composition are lacking. Major grammar/spelling errors make the presentation hard to understand and/or notes are not well utilized

10

Memo:

Documentation of Literature

Meets “Proficient” criteria and comprehensively describes multiple peer-reviewed articles that led the student to choose the persuasive techniques employed

Describes the research that led the student to choose the persuasive techniques employed

Mentions research, but does not clearly link it to the persuasive techniques employed

Does not draw on research 3

Analysis of Components of

Persuasion

Meets “Proficient” criteria and analyzes what source, message, and audience effects may occur in a clear and convincing way and how the persuasion strategy will address them. Discussion is comprehensive and well developed

Analyzes what source, message, and audience effects may occur in a clear and convincing way and how the persuasion strategy will address them

Analyzes one or more factors, but not all three factors or discussion of the factors is not clear and convincing

Does not analyze the components of persuasion

3

Analysis of Proposed Approach

Meets “Proficient” criteria and explains why plan will produce the desired behavioral change. Discussion is comprehensive and well developed. Convinces the reader that the approach will work

Explains why plan will produce the desired behavioral change. Discussion is comprehensive and well developed

Attempts to explain why the plan will produce the desired change. Not clear that it would actually work

Does not attempt to explain why the plan will produce the desired change

8

Inclusion of Articles Used to Design

Approach

Meets “Proficient” criteria and provides an annotated bibliography with MORE THAN FOUR article citations and abstracts that correspond to the ones used to design the approach

Provides an annotated bibliography with at least four article citations and abstracts that correspond to the ones used to design the approach

Provides an annotated bibliography with less than four article citations and abstracts OR with six or more article citations and abstracts that are not related to the design

Does not provide an annotated bibliography with article citations and abstracts

16

Articulation of Response

Meets “Proficient” criteria, and submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-to-read format. APA format is correctly applied

Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, APA format, or organization

Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, APA format, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas

Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, APA format, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas

10

Earned Total 100%