method section
nikkieramsey
SampleMethodGraduateCourses.docSAMPLE 1
Method
Participants
Participants will be 150 undergraduates enrolled in psychology courses recruited from a private Catholic university in the southeast.
Materials
Participants will complete a demographic and relationship biography questionnaire. The demographic questionnaire may be found in Appendix B. The love and relationship biography includes measures of commitment (Lund, 1985), length of relationship, and frequency of contact with partner. The biography also assesses how often the participant has been in love and if the participant’s current relationship is sexual. This measure may be found in Appendix C.
Relationship satisfaction. S. Hendrick’s (1988) Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS) will be used to examine relationship satisfaction. The RAS is a seven-item scale that provides an overall measure of relationship satisfaction. This scale is widely used in the close relationship literature and has demonstrated high reliability in other studies. The RAS may be found in Appendix D.
Love styles. C. Hendrick and Hendrick’s (1998) Love Attitudes Scale: Short form will also be included in Study 3. This scale has six subscales with four items each. The subscales are Ludus (game-playing love), Storge (friendship love), Eros (passionate love), Mania (possessive, dependent love), Pragma (practical love), and Agape (altruistic love). The LAS may be found in Appendix E.
Respect . S. Hendrick and Hendrick’s (2006) Respect Scale will be used to measure respect toward partner and perceived respect from partner. Each of these two subscales consists of six items. The scale may be found in Appendix F.
Procedure
Participants will receive an online link through Qualtrics . Prior to completing the packet of questionnaires, participants will read and agree to the implied consent form (See Appendix A). Participants will complete the questionnaires which will be in a fixed order. Once the participants are finished, they will be given a written debriefing form which includes contact information for counseling centers on campus.
