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SECTION 1: PROJECT REGISTRATION

1.1	Project Title: Music and Fragrance Effects on Stress Perception

1.2	Anticipated Project Dates
	Start Date:	February 16th, 2017 (Thursday)
	Completion Date:	February 17th, 2017 (Friday)

1.3	Principal or Lead Investigator, or sponsor of Student
	Name	Jordan Phelps
	Email	[email protected]

Signature of Local Principle Investigator or Sponsor of Student attesting that:

a) all co-investigators have reviewed the protocol contents and are in agreement with the protocol as submitted;

b) all investigators have read the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct of Research Involving Humans (1998) and the UWO Guidelines on Non Medical Research Involving Human Subjects and agree to abide by the guidelines therein;

c) the investigator(s) will adhere to the Protocol and Consent Form as approved by the REB; and

d) the Principal Investigator will notify the REB of any changes or adverse events/experiences in a timely manner;

e) the study, if funded by an external sponsor, will not start until the contract agreement has been approved by the appropriate university, hospital or research institute official.

f) The research poses no more than minimal risk

Signature Date

Signature(s) of Students attesting that they:

a) have read the Tri-Council Policy Statement and the UWO Guidelines on Non-Medical Research Involving Human Subjects and agree to abide by the guidelines therein;

b) will adhere to the Protocol and Consent Form as approved by the REB; and

c) will notify their supervisor and the REB of any changes or adverse events/experiences in a timely manner;

Signature(s) Date

SECTION 2: PROJECT INFORMATION

2.1

Objectives and Hypotheses:

This study is investigating effects of music and fragrance on perception of stress. Obviously, exposure to happy music or a pleasant fragrance will significantly decrease participants’ stress level. Furthermore, the result will be more obviously when people accept both stimulations.

To illustrate, from previously researches, fragrance has been considered has a strong impact on humans’ hormones production. Exposure in a pleasant fragrance, like the smell of chocolate, would help people increase production of hormones which related to people’s feeling of happiness. As a result, students’ stress level will decrease significantly by fragrance stimulus.

Furthermore, happy musics are considered to be the best choice to relieve people’s anxiety. After hearing the music, people’s mood should be more gentle than before, which means there would be a lower stress level.

2.2

Research Participants:

Our study data will be collected from about 40 undergraduate students, who are from 2 labs of psychology 2800 (research methods) course in University of Western Ontario. All of them are English speaking. Non-English speaking participants will not be allowed to join this study. To recruiting participants and reward their participation, the participation marks will be recorded in their score reports.

Letter of information, informed consent sheet and debriefing sheet will be provided to participants.

2.3

Methodology

This study is investigating effects of music and fragrance on perception of stress. For this study, 40 participants will be asked to randomly assigning to one of four groups, and completing perceived stress questionnaire before and after providing both music and fragrance stimuluses, or with none or only one of these stimuluses. Groups are named as group 1, group 2, group 3, and group 4. Group 1 will be provided with no stimulus. Group 2 will be provided with smell stimulus (chocolate) only. Group 3 will be provided with music stimulus (Super Mario Bros. Music - Ground Theme) only. Group 4 will be provided with both smell and music stimuluses (chocolate and Super Mario Bros. Music - Ground Theme).

About the procedure, first of all, participants will received letter of information and debriefing sheet, and sign informed consent sheet. Then, participants will be randomly divided into one of the four groups during their own lab period. Before expanding this experiment, all individuals are asked to complete perceived stress questionnaire. After starting research, we first play music (Super Mario Bros. Music - Ground Theme) to group 3 and 4. At the same time, group 1 and 2 are asked to wear earplug during this music stimulating time. At next step, some chocolate bar are distributed to group 2 and 4, and these 2 group members are asked to smell the chocolate for 15 seconds. After finished all these steps, all participants will be required to complete the questionnaire again, helping us know the relationship between music and fragrance stimuluses and stress. The study should take approximately 20 minutes for each lab section.

There are no known risks to participating in this study. Participation in this study is strictly voluntary and therefore they may discontinue participation at any time or refuse to answer any questions that make they feel uncomfortable.

This research does not involve deception. The confidentiality of participants’ identity is positively ensured. The questionnaires are coded by numbers and collected datas are only keeped by researchers. There is no use of individual’s private information in the release of the findings.

Lab6_1__Method_Appendices_NumberUse-2.pptx

Method, appendices, and APA number use

Lab 6

Outline

DUE: Introduction hard copy (Group Project)

How to write a Method section

Participants

Materials

Procedure

Appendices

APA number use

Coming up...

Group Project assignment #2

In-class work on Group Project

How to write a Method section

Purpose of the Method section

Describes:

Who was tested

What was used to test them

How they completed the study (step-by-step)

Allows readers to critically evaluate the appropriateness of your methodology

NB. Provide enough detail so that someone else could replicate the study based solely on your description

Appearance

Begins on a new line immediately following the last sentence of the Introduction section

Do not start a new page

The word “Method” appears centered and bolded

The Method section has three subsections

Participants

Materials

Procedure

Appearance

Each subsection begins on a new line, left-justified and bolded

“Participants” begins on the line immediately following the “Method” heading

“Materials” begins on the line immediately following the last sentence of “Participants”

“Procedure” begins on the line immediately following the last sentence of “Materials”

The body of each subsection text begins on the next line in standard typeface, indented 0.5-inch (one tab)

Appearance

WRITING A PAPER 8

This is the last sentence of the Introduction section.

Method

Participants

The sample was composed of 103 undergraduate students recruited from the University of Waterloo, who participated in partial fulfillment of a marketing course. Participants were 56 females and 47 males, ranging in age from 17 to 26 years (M = 20.09, SD = 1.78)...

Participants subsection

Adequately details the population tested in your study

This helps in generalizing the findings and making comparisons across replications

Participants subsection

Identify participant characteristics

Number of individuals and gender breakdown

Age range and mean/standard deviation

Relevant demographic characteristics (e.g., students, ethnicity breakdown)

Participants subsection

Note any inclusion/exclusion criteria and if Ps had any previous experience with the study

If Ps took part in partial fulfillment of a course, do not mention the course number (e.g., 2800E)

This is meaningless to a naïve reader

Instead describe the type of course (e.g., a psychology research methodology course)

Participants subsection

Describe how Ps were recruited/selected and how they were assigned to different conditions (if applicable)

Note whether Ps completed the study individually or in a group setting

If in groups, note the number of Ps per group

State if and how Ps were compensated for their participation (e.g., course credit, money)

Participants subsection

Note if any Ps failed to complete the study or were excluded from final analyses

If Ps were excluded, explain why

NB. All Participants data must be collected

Do not guess

Participants subsection

Remember, never use the term “subjects” for human participants

Instead, use “participants” or “individuals”

NB. Although the lecture abbreviates “participants” to “Ps” to save space, do not abbreviate the word “participants” in papers

Always spell out “participants” fully

Sample Participants

WRITING A PAPER 8

This is the last sentence of the Introduction section.

Method

Participants

Participants were 186 students (121 female, 65 male) enrolled in an introductory psychology course at Michigan State University. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 30 years (M = 21.95, SD = 2.70) and were eligible for the study as long as they had an active Facebook account. Participants were tested in groups of five and received course credit for their participation. Fourteen individuals failed to complete the study and were excluded from final analyses, nine because they did not meet eligibility requirements (i.e., they did not have an active Facebook account), and five because they failed to complete all questionnaires.

Materials subsection

Lists and describes any equipment, measures, or materials used in your study, and their purposes

This is useful information for understanding the details of your study, or in case another researcher is interested in using the same measures

Materials subsection

State how the IVs and DVs were measured

e.g., which items or questionnaires correspond to which variables

NB. When describing questionnaires, do not use the term “questions”

Instead, use “items”

Materials subsection

Describe instruments/measures used

If preexisting, provide the name of the measure (if available) and the appropriate author citation

Be sure to include the citation in your References section!

If newly developed for the study, note that the measure was designed for the current study

You must explain the rationale behind item creation if you create a measure yourself

Materials subsection

Describe instruments/measures used (cont’d)

Total number of items

Type(s) of items

e.g., yes/no, Likert scale

Item scale (if applicable)

e.g., “A 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (very untrue) to 5 (very true).”

NB. Scale anchors should be italicized in parentheses, yes/no items do not have scales

Sample item

Description of any apparatus (e.g., maze, photos, screen, flash cards)

Materials subsection

The purpose behind each material must be clear

e.g., if prior research has used the measure successfully, it is likely a valid measure of the variable in question

Provide reliability statistics (if available)

Aids in establishing validity and consistency for measure(s) used

Especially important for materials newly designed for the current study

Materials subsection

If you have multiple measures (e.g., three or more), subheadings can help with the readability of the Materials section (see Lab 3 lecture)

Each subheading under Materials is Level 3, and begins on a new line indented 0.5-inch (one tab) and bolded, followed by a period

The first letter of the first word is capitalized

The body of the text begins immediately after the period in standard typeface

The subheadings are very brief descriptions of the variable/measure of interest

Sample Materials #1

Materials

To manipulate psychological resource capacity, participants completed a Stroop color-naming task. A color word was presented on a computer screen and participants were asked to indicate the color of the text (not the word itself) as quickly as possible by pressing appropriate keys on the keyboard. Trials were 35% congruent (e.g., the word “blue” displayed in blue text) and 65% incongruent (e.g., the word “green” displayed in blue text). Participants in the control condition completed 30 trials, while participants in the depletion (experimental) condition completed 300 trials. Prior research (e.g., Govorun & Payne, 2006) has demonstrated that completing more Stroop trials is mentally exhausting and effectively diminishes psychological resources.

Finally, to assess mood participants completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegan, 1988; see Appendix A). The PANAS is comprised of 20 items, 10 of which measure positive affect (e.g., “I feel excited”) and 10 of which measure negative affect (e.g., “I feel distressed”). Individuals rated their current feelings on a scale of 1 (very slightly or not at all) to 5 (extremely), α = .91 for positive affect, α = .88 for negative affect.

Sample Materials #2

Materials

Resource depletion. To manipulate psychological resource capacity, participants completed a Stroop color-naming task. A color word was presented on a computer screen and participants were asked to indicate the color of the text (not the word itself) as quickly as possible by pressing appropriate keys on the keyboard. Trials were 35% congruent (e.g., the word “blue” displayed in blue text) and 65% incongruent (e.g., the word “green” displayed in blue text). Participants in the control condition completed 30 trials, while participants in the depletion (experimental) condition completed 300 trials. Prior research (e.g., Govorun & Payne, 2006) has demonstrated that completing more Stroop trials is mentally exhausting and effectively diminishes psychological resources.

Mood. Finally, to assess mood participants completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegan, 1988; see Appendix A). The PANAS is comprised of 20 items, 10 of which measure positive affect (e.g., “I feel excited”) and 10 of which measure negative affect (e.g., “I feel distressed”). Individuals rated their current feelings on a scale of 1 (very slightly or not at all) to 5 (extremely), α = .91 for positive affect, α = .88 for negative affect.

Procedure subsection

Provides a step-by-step account of what Ps did

This allows the reader to evaluate the appropriateness of the procedure, and is useful for other researchers who wish to replicate your study

Procedure subsection

NB. Procedure must be organized chronologically

Mention any special recruitment methods

e.g., if Ps were approached on the street

Include informed consent and debriefing as steps

Do not include minute details about the debriefing (e.g., hypotheses that were explained)

Procedure subsection

Note the number, duration, and make-up of sessions

Mention the setting of the study

e.g., lab, classroom

Do not include minute details about the setting or session (e.g., exact location/date/time, room décor, how Ps were randomly assigned to groups, how Ps logged onto computers)

Procedure subsection

Describe instructions given to Ps

This includes any cover stories (e.g., for studies with experimental manipulations in which you don’t want Ps to know the nature of the study outright)

Note any methods used to control extraneous variables (see next slide)

Extraneous variables

To be extraneous, the variable must affect the DV and call into question the validity and interpretability of your results

Extraneous variables must be controlled for to avoid confounds

Confounds result when two variables’ effects on a DV cannot be separated

Extraneous variables

Example

You want to lose weight, so you start exercising and dieting

If you lose weight, is it because of the exercise or the dieting?

We can’t tell! When combined with exercising, dieting is an extraneous variable and creates a confound

Extraneous variables

NB. Just because an unmeasured variable could impact the DV does not make your study invalid

To be extraneous, failure to account for that variable must potentially undermine your conclusions

Sample Procedure

Procedure

Prior to arrival, participants were randomly assigned among experimental conditions. Participants arrived at the lab and were greeted by an experimenter. They first received a letter of information and provided informed consent. Participants then completed the BMIS as a baseline measure of mood in order to control for mood effects.

Next, participants watched either a neutral, sad, or funny video clip depending on their condition. Specifically, participants in the neutral condition viewed a collection of natural imagery (e.g., landscapes) from the television series Planet Earth, individuals in the sad condition viewed an excerpt from the film Terms of Endearment in which a mother says goodbye to her young children as she prepares to die, and those in the funny condition watched a Robin Williams stand-up comedy routine. All video clips were five minutes long.

After the video clip participants were instructed that their next task was to drink as much as they could of a beverage, which was healthful but tasted bad. The beverage consisted of unsweetened orange Kool-Aid combined with water and vinegar. Newspaper and magazine articles that explained the health benefits of vinegar were provided. Individuals were asked to drink as many 1-ounce cups as they could. 10 seconds after each cup was consumed the experimenter asked, “Are you ready for another cup?” until the participant refused.

Lastly, participants completed a final questionnaire which asked about their perceptions of the different tasks and probed for hypothesis suspicion. Participants were then fully debriefed and dismissed. The entire study took approximately 30 minutes to complete.

Appendices

What goes in an appendix

Materials that are relatively brief and easily presented in print format

Questionnaires

Experimental scripts

Images

NB. In 2800E you will also need to include the Letter of Information, Consent Statement(s), and Debriefing Form as appendices on top of other experimental materials

Appearance

Begins on a new page immediately following the References section

The word “Appendix” appears centered in standard typeface

You must refer to appendices in the text of the Method section

Each appendix gets its own page

Appearance

If you have multiple appendices, label each with a capital letter (e.g., “Appendix A,” “Appendix B”) in the order in which they appear in the main text

Each appendix must have a title

The title appears on a new line immediately following the word “Appendix,” centered and in standard typeface

Provide the citation for the material (if applicable)

NB. Do not include the full reference

Appearance

The content of the appendix itself begins on a new line immediately following the appendix title, flush left and in standard typeface

Be sure to include relevant scoring information (e.g., which items are reverse-coded, which items comprise subscales)

Sample Appendix #1

WRITING A PAPER 18

Appendix C

Narcissistic Personality Inventory (Raskin & Hall, 1979)

Instructions. Below is a list of 40 statements, one in Column A and the opposite in Column B. For each statement, please choose the item from Column A or B that best matches you (even if it’s not a perfect fit) and place a checkmark in the adjacent column.

	A	B
1	I have a natural talent for influencing people.	I am not good at influencing people.
2	Modesty doesn’t become me.	I am essentially a modest person.
3	I would do almost anything on a dare.	I tend to be a fairly cautious person.
4	When people compliment me I sometimes get embarrassed.	I know that I am good because everybody keeps telling me so.
. . .

Sample Appendix #2

WRITING A PAPER 19

Appendix D

Visual Stimuli

Pleasant.

Unpleasant.

APA number use

General rule:

Use numerals (e.g., “14”) to express numbers of 10 or greater

Use words (e.g., “one”) to express numbers less than 10

The remainder of this section is devoted to exceptions and special usages

Numbers expressed in numerals

Numbers 10 and above

12 cm wide

The remaining 10%

25 years old

11th-grade students

The 15th trial

13 lists

105 stimulus words

Numbers expressed in numerals

Numbers in the Abstract of a paper

Numbers in a graphical display within a paper

Numbers that immediately precede a unit of measurement

A 5-mg dose

With 10.54 cm of...

Numbers expressed in numerals

Numbers that represent statistical or mathematical functions, fractional or decimal quantities, percentages, ratios, and percentiles/quartiles

Multiplied by 4

3 times as many

0.33 of the specimens

More than 8% of the sample

A ratio of 16:1

The 5th percentile

Numbers expressed in numerals

Numbers that represent time, dates, ages, scores/points on a scale, exact sums of money, and numerals as numerals

1 hr 33 min

At 12:30 a.m.

Scored 4 on a 7-point scale

The exception is approximations of number of days, months, and years

About four months ago

Numbers expressed in numerals

Numbers that denote a specific place in a numbered series, parts of books and tables, and each number in a list of four or more numbers

Grade 8

But “the eighth grade” (see ordinal numbers slide)

Table 3

As seen in row 4

Participants completed lists of 5, 10, 15, or 20 words

Numbers expressed in words

Any number that begins a sentence, title, or text heading

Forty-eight percent of the sample showed...

Twelve students improved, but 12 did not.

NB. Whenever possible, reword the sentence to avoid beginning with a number

Numbers expressed in words

Common fractions

One fifth of the class

A two-thirds majority

Morale was reduced by three-fourths following...

Universally accepted usages

The Fourth of July

The Ten Commandments

Combining numerals and words

Large rounded numbers (starting with millions)

Each year about 3 million people report...

A budget of $2.5 billion was provided...

Back-to-back modifiers

2 two-way interactions

Ten 7-point scales

Nineteen 4-year-olds

Combining numerals and words

Sometimes, combining numerals and words may detract from readability and clarity; in these instances, spell out both numbers

Correct:

The first two items

Incorrect:

The 1st two items

The first 2 items

Ordinal numbers

Treat ordinal numbers as you would cardinal numbers

Ordinal	Cardinal Base
Second-order factor	Two orders
The fourth graders	Four grades
The first item of the 75th trial	One item, 75 trials
The first and third groups	One group, three groups
The 3rd-year students	3 years
The 2nd and 11th rows	2 rows, 11 rows

Decimal fractions

Use a zero before the decimal point with numbers less than 1 when the statistic can exceed 1

0.23 cm

0.48 s

M = 1.55, SD = 0.42

Decimal fractions

Do not use a zero before a decimal fraction when the statistic cannot be greater than 1 (e.g., correlations, proportions, levels of statistical significance)

r(29) = -.36, p = .041

Decimal fractions

General rule for the number of decimal places to use in reporting results of experiments and analytic manipulations of data:

Round as much as possible while keeping prospective use and statistical precision in mind

Decimal fractions

Fewer decimal digits are easier to comprehend than more digits; therefore, in general it is best to round to two decimal places

If a measurement requires reporting more than two decimal places, it is most effective to rescale the measurement so it can be reported to two decimal places (e.g., converting meters to millimeters)

Correlations, proportions, and inferential statistics (e.g., t, F, 2) are reported to two decimal places

Decimal fractions

The tradition of reporting approximate, “less-than” p-values (e.g., p < .05, p < .01) is now outdated

With the development of more precise statistical testing software, we learn more about the data if we report exact p-values

When reporting statistical significance, report exact p-values to two or three decimal places

p = .036

Report p-values less than .001 as “p < .001”

Roman numerals

If Roman numerals are part of an established terminology, do not change to Arabic numerals

Type II error

Use Arabic, not Roman, numerals for routine seriation

Step 2

Commas in numbers

Use commas between groups of three digits in most figures of 1,000 or more

Exceptions:

Page numbers	Page 1029
Binary digits	00110010
Serial numbers	290466960
Degrees of temperature	3071°F
Acoustic frequency designations	2000 Hz
Degrees of freedom	F(24, 1050)

Plurals of numbers

To form plurals of numbers (whether expressed as numerals or as words) add “s” or “es” alone, without an apostrophe

Fours and sixes

1950s

10s and 20s

Coming up...

Group Project assignment #2

Individually, write an APA Method section

You must include an Appendix section with your chosen measures

Detail only the topic your group has selected

Approximately two pages (not including Appendices)

DUE: 11:59PM Oct x

See WebCT for marking scheme

Group Project assignment #2

Be careful to put information under the correct Method subsections

e.g., how participants were recruited should be mentioned in the Participants subsection, not the Procedure

Group Project information

429 UWO undergraduates in a research methodology course

333 female

91 male

5 unspecified

Age range 17 to 57 years

Mean = 19.04 years

Standard deviation = 3.98 years

Group Project information

No inclusion/exclusion criteria, no previous experience with the study

Tested as one group

Received course credit for participation

NB. There are missing data points, so you may choose to exclude some Ps from analyses

If you do, make sure to note how many were excluded and why

Group Project information

Materials are the questionnaires for your two variables

Include these as APA-formatted appendices in your paper

All questionnaires are available on WebCT

Group Project information

Procedure

Informed consent

All Ps completed all questionnaires

Questionnaires administered in paper-and-pencil format

Completed in a classroom setting

Entire study took less than one hour to complete

Debriefing

Next lab

Lecture

Results, tables, and figures

In-class work on Group Project

Today

Now we will go to PUCL so you can work on your projects

Questions?

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Lab3_2__Introduction_References.pptx

Introduction and references

Lab 3

Outline

How to write an Introduction section

Writing clearly and concisely

References

In-class exercise

Coming up...

Group Project assignment #1

In-class work on Group Project

How to write an Introduction section

Purpose of the Introduction section

Presents the specific question under study and describes the research strategy

In the Introduction, you should:

Explore the importance of the research question

What you are investigating and why it matters

Provide a comprehensive review of related literature

State hypotheses and their correspondence to your research design

Appearance

Begins on a new page (page 3), immediately following the abstract

The title of your paper appears at the top of the page, centered in standard typeface

The title must be identical to that on the title page

There is no “Introduction” section label

Appearance

The body of the Introduction text begins on the line immediately after the title, in standard typeface

Paragraphs are left-aligned

Indent all paragraphs 0.5 inch (one tab)

Appearance

WRITING A PAPER 3

Writing a Paper using APA 6th Formatting

Begin the introduction here. Remember that there is no “Introduction” label to this section (this is because the introduction is clearly identified by its position in the manuscript). The title is centered and appears exactly as it does on the title page. There are no extra line spaces between the title and the start of the introduction.

Note the general APA format: the running head and page number appear in the header at the top of the page. The text of the entire paper is double-spaced in 12-point Times New Roman, left-aligned. New paragraphs are indented 0.5 inch (one tab). This is all review from the APA formatting lecture from Lab 1, so you should be set to go!

Opening paragraph

Start broad

Discuss the general area of investigation and its importance

This should be done in one or two sentences

Avoid rambling and irrelevant information

A broad start does not mean excessive repetition

A broad start still needs to be directly relevant to the area of study

Opening paragraph

Throughout the opening paragraph, become more specific

By the last sentence of the opening paragraph or the beginning of the second paragraph, you should be focusing on your particular topic/research question within the general area of investigation

e.g., defining or outlining the phenomenon under study

Opening paragraph

You will be graded on:

Starting appropriately broad

Getting to the point of your study without too much rambling

Rationale and theory

Rationale/theory

Explanation of why you think two variables will be correlated (Group Project), or why you think the IV will affect the DV in the way you predict (Pairs Project)

When a theory has a name (e.g., Signal Detection Theory), state the name, define it, mention who coined it, and explain its reasoning

Rationale and theory

Do not ignore competing or superseding theories

If they exist, you must mention the theory/theories

Remember, you are trying to help the reader understand when, how, and why a phenomenon or relationship occurs

Rationale and theory

You will be graded on:

Making a sufficient attempt to explain the rationale and theory behind your study

Describing the rationale in a way that is clear, correct, and logically sound

Including competing or superseding theories/explanations (if applicable)

Review of previous literature

Studies included in your literature review:

Review the history of research in your area

Help justify your predictions

Help defend your research design (e.g., materials, procedure)

Review of previous literature

For each article, provide a brief description of the purpose, method, and results

This should be done in one or two sentences

e.g., “Johnson (2001) administered a chocolate consumption survey to undergraduate students in order to determine which gender ate more chocolate. Contrary to the author’s expectations, there were no gender differences.”

Review of previous literature

You will be graded on:

Including the purpose, method, and results of cited studies in a concise manner, without describing irrelevant details

Describing the studies in a way that is clear, correct, and understandable

The overall quality/comprehensiveness of the review

Relevance of each paragraph is clear

How prior research led to your study

The purpose of any research is to either:

Replicate past findings using similar or refined methods

Cite which studies you are replicating

Add to knowledge by improving on and extending prior research

Cite which studies you are extending, and mention how you will improve on them

Investigate a topic that has not yet received attention (unlikely in 2800E)

How prior research led to your study

Identify similarities or differences in the methods used by past studies(compared to the present research) to help frame the purpose and predictions of your study

Explain why the similarities or differences are important

Be specific about connections

It is insufficient to say “Similarly to past research, the current study investigates the same area.”

How prior research led to your study

You will be graded on:

Identifying at least one way in which prior research contributed to the purpose, hypotheses, and/or design of your study

Clarifying whether similarities or differences in methods should lead to (a) replication of results, or (b) improvements that will extend past findings and add new contributions

Quality of arguments for why the identified similarities and differences are important

Definitions of key terms

Define any meaningful term immediately after it is mentioned

Avoid listing numerous definitions in sequence

Operationally define variables of interest (e.g., IV and DV)

Operationalizing variables means to define them in terms of how they were measured

e.g., “For purposes of this study, the dependent variable was defined as the number of correctly recalled words following a 10-minute delay.”

Definitions of key terms

Operational definitions of variables appear near the end of the Introduction section

Typically within the last two paragraphs

NB. A correlational study has no IV or DV, but variables must still be defined operationally

Definitions of key terms

You will be graded on:

Defining all relevant terms and abbreviations (see later slides for abbreviations information) immediately before or after they appear in the text

Operationally defining variables of interest

Clarity and correctness of definitions

Not listing numerous definitions all at once

Clear rationale behind hypotheses

Justify why your hypotheses make sense by incorporating theoretical and empirical rationale

Theoretical rationale

(Re)state why the variables should be correlated or why the IVs should affect the DV

Empirical rationale

(Re)state how similarities/differences to past research helped frame predictions

Clear rationale behind hypotheses

Be explicit about connections

It is insufficient to say “Based on review of prior research, we can expect that...” or “Based on theory, we predicted that...”

Hypotheses rationale appears near the end of the Introduction section (e.g., after the literature review, prior to operational definitions of variables)

Should be done in a few sentences

Clear rationale behind hypotheses

You will be graded on:

Clarity of theoretical rationale

Clarity of empirical rationale

Correctly stated hypotheses

Conclude the Introduction section by clearly stating all hypotheses

State in terms of operational definitions (see prior slide)

e.g., “Individuals exposed to a word list five times were expected to recall more words than individuals exposed to a word list only once.”

Correctly stated hypotheses

You will be graded on:

Stating hypotheses in terms of operational definitions

Clarity of hypothesis statements

Predictions must be unambiguous

Correctness of hypothesis statements

Including all hypotheses

Introduction organization and flow

Connections between paragraphs should be clear

Use of transition sentences is recommended; however, the best transition sentence is not a substitute for actual organization

Save explicit details about the current study until late in the Introduction (e.g., when using prior research to justify hypotheses)

Introduction organization and flow

Remember that the purpose of the Introduction section is to frame the present research

Goes beyond meeting the technical requirements of a paper

Do not simply list past studies that relate to your research question

Use prior literature to build the case for/lead up to your study

Introduction organization and flow

You will be graded on:

Whether ideas flow linearly from one paragraph to the next (e.g., not simply listing studies)

Degree to which the Introduction section helps frame the current study, as opposed to simply discussing a list of prior literature

Putting the Introduction together

There is no “correct” way to order the information you need to provide

However, there are common ways which work well and are widely used by authors

Suggested order #1

Establish the importance of your topic in the opening paragraph

Introduce the specific phenomenon under investigation and define key terms (e.g., the misinformation effect)

Describe the seminal (first) article exploring the phenomenon

Continue to review studies, explaining how each helped develop/refine understanding of the phenomenon

Detail the review/meta-analysis/theoretical article last, providing the most recent or comprehensive explanation for the effect, describing how it expands on the earlier explanations

Describe how your study is replicating or extending prior research

Briefly review the theoretical and empirical rationale for why the variables should be correlated or why the IVs should affect the DV

In the final paragraph state the operational definitions of the relevant variables, followed by specific hypotheses framed in terms of those definitions

Suggested order #2

Establish the importance of your topic in the opening paragraph

Introduce the specific phenomenon under investigation and define key terms (e.g., the misinformation effect)

Use the review/meta-analysis/theoretical article to describe the main findings in the field and/or further establish the prevalence of the phenomenon

Provide the established explanation for why the variables should be correlated or why the IVs should affect the DV

Describe several studies characteristic of the topic

Introduce your study as a replication or extension of prior research

In the final paragraph review the theoretical and empirical rationale behind predictions and state hypotheses in terms of the operational definitions of the relevant variables

Writing clearly and concisely

Organizing a paper with headings

In scientific writing, sound organizational structure is the key to clear, precise, and logical communication

Using headings can aid in effectively organizing ideas within a paper and can help the reader track the development of your arguments

Some headings are required for proper APA formatting (e.g., section headers such as “Method”)

The slides will specify when a heading is required

Organizing a paper with headings

The heading style recommended by APA 6th consists of five possible formatting arrangements, according to the number of levels of subordination

Within a section of the paper, begin with Level 1 and continue as needed

You will likely use Level 1-3 headings depending on the section

Most section headers (e.g., “Discussion”) are Level 1 headings

Exception: Introduction (the title of your paper does not count as a Level 1 heading)

Organizing a paper with headings

Level of heading	Format
1	Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
2	Flush Left, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
3	Indented, boldface, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.
4	Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.
5	Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.
NB. Lowercase paragraph heading means the first letter of the first word is uppercase and the remaining words are lowercase

Organizing a paper with headings

WRITING A PAPER 3

Writing a Paper using APA 6th Formatting

Begin the introduction here. Imagine this is your first two or so paragraphs.

Heading Goes Here

Because this section does not have an “Introduction” section label, if you wish to use subheadings here you begin with Level 1. The subheading should help clarify the flow of your argument; for example, if you are drawing together two literatures that led to the present research.

Subheading If Needed

Within the first Level 1 heading, if you need to further break down the section use a Level 2 heading like this.

Another Heading

If you wish to identify a second major section of the introduction, use another Level 1 heading. Typically most introductions will make use of Level 1 headings for a subsection called “The Present Research” or equivalent. However, whether or not you use headings is up to you!

Organizing a paper with headings

WRITING A PAPER 8

Method

Participants

In a section like this, the “Method” label counts as the Level 1 heading. Subsequent headings are Level 2, and within those you may have Level 3 headings if you like. The Method section is likely one of the only sections in which you will reach Level 3 headings (rarely, you will do so in the Results section)

Materials

Materials subheading. Detail specific materials and measures here. Only use Level 3 headings if you plan on differentiating the different materials (e.g., one Level 3 heading would be material #1, the next would be material #2, etc.).

Procedure

Detail the procedure of the study here.

Organizing a paper with headings

NB. Do not label headings with numbers or letters

Do not overuse headings

They are solely for clarification when needed

You do not need a subheading for each specific idea you wish to discuss

Expressing ideas

Writing style

Present ideas in an orderly fashion

Aim for clear and logical communication

NB. A naïve reader will not know as much as you do about the topic; make sure explanations and the order of ideas are understandable by someone with little or no experience in the field

Economy of expression

Less is more, do not embellish!

Expressing ideas

Verb tense

Past tense (e.g., “Smith demonstrated”) or present perfect tense (e.g., “researchers have shown”) is appropriate for the literature review and the description of the procedure if the discussion is of past events

Past tense (e.g., “anxiety decreased significantly”) to describe results

Present tense (e.g., “the results of Study 2 indicate”) to discuss implications of the results and to present conclusions

Expressing ideas

Avoid wordiness

“based on the fact” → “because”

“at the present time” → “now”/ “currently”

“for the purpose of” → “for”/ “to”

“in order to” → “to”

“there were several students who completed” → “several students completed”

Expressing ideas

Avoid redundancy

Use only the number of words necessary to convey your meaning

Do not repeat yourself in an effort to add emphasis to your ideas

they were both alike	one and the same	a total of 68 participants
in close proximity	four different groups saw	completely unanimous
instructions, which were exactly the same as those used	just exactly	absolutely essential
very close to significance	period of time	has been previously found
summarize briefly	small in size	the reason is because

Expressing ideas

Avoid colloquialisms and figures of speech

“write up” → “report”

“put through” → “exposed to”

“a lot” → use more precise and informative wording

“can’t”/ “didn’t” → “cannot”/ “did not”

“we made participants” → “participants were asked to”

“go through” → “complete”

Avoid conversational tone

Expressing ideas

Avoid anthropomorphisms (i.e., do not attribute human characteristics to non-human animals or inanimate objects)

An experiment cannot “attempt to demonstrate,” “control unwanted variables,” or “interpret findings”

A table or figure cannot “compare”

NB. These things can “indicate” or “show”

Abbreviations

A term that shortens to an acronym must be written out fully and then immediately followed by the acronym in parentheses

Do not use periods in between the letters of an acronym

Be consistent with acronyms

Do not alternate between the full form and the acronym

Abbreviations

Example 1

“Prior research has used the Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald et al., 1998) to examine...”

Example 2

“A study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), multiple system atrophy (MSA) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) revealed that patients with PD performed better on tests of verbal fluency than patients with MSA or PSP.”

Abbreviations

APA Style permits the use of abbreviations that appear as word entries (i.e., that are not labeled abbr) in Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (2005)

These abbreviations do not require explanation in the text

IQ, REM, ESP, HIV, AIDS, NADP, ACTH

Abbreviations

Do not use the abbreviation S, P, E, or O to denote subject, participant, experimenter, and observer, respectively

Latin abbreviations

Use only inside parentheses

Outside of parentheses use the English translation

cf. (“compare”)

e.g., (“for example,”)

, etc. (“, and so forth”)

i.e., (“that is,”)

viz., (“namely,”)

vs. (“versus” or “against”)

Latin abbreviations

Exceptions:

Use for both parenthetical and non-parenthetical references and text citations

v. (“versus”)

et al. (“and others”)

Scientific abbreviations

Use abbreviations and symbols for metric and non-metric units of measurement that accompany numeric values

4 cm

30 s

12 min

18 hr

45°C

Scientific abbreviations

Do not repeat abbreviated units of measure when expressing multiple amounts

Correct:

16-30 kHz

0.3, 1.5, and 3.0 mg/dL

Incorrect:

16 kHz-30 kHz

0.3 mg/dL, 1.5 mg/dL, and 3.0 mg/dL

Scientific abbreviations

Abbreviate the following units of time

hr (hour)

min (minute)

ms (millisecond)

ns (nanosecond)

s (second)

Scientific abbreviations

Do not abbreviate the following units of time, even when accompanied by numeric values

Day

Week

Month

Year

Scientific abbreviations

To form the plural of most abbreviations and statistical symbols, add “s” alone (not italicized and without an apostrophe)

IQs

Eds.

vols.

Scientific abbreviations

Do not add “s” to pluralize abbreviations of units of measurement

Correct:

12 cm

Incorrect:

12 cms

To form the plural of the abbreviation p. (page), write pp.

Do not add “s”

References

Appearance

Begins on a new page immediately following the conclusion of your paper

The word “References” appears at the top of the page, centered and in standard typeface

Appearance

The first reference appears on the line immediately following the References heading, flush left

References are double-spaced

There are no extra line breaks between references

Use hanging indent format (found in Paragraph, Indents and Spacing, Indentation)

First line of each reference is flush left, and subsequent lines of the same reference are indented 0.5-inch

Appearance

List references alphabetically, by author surname

Remember: do not reorganize/alphabetize surnames within a reference, since order is determined by author contribution (see Lab 1 lecture)

Sample References

WRITING A PAPER 14

References

Gailliot, M. T., Baumeister, R. F., DeWall, C. N., Maner, J. K., Plant, E. A., Tice, D. M., . . . Schmeichel,

B. J. (2007). Self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source: Willpower is more than a

metaphor. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(2), 325-336.

Quine, W. V. O., & Ullian, J. S. (1970). The web of belief. New York: Random House.

Slotter, E. B., & Finkel, E. J. (2011). I3 Theory: Instigating, impelling, and inhibiting factors in

aggression. In P. R. Shaver & M. Mikulincer (Eds.), Human aggression and violence: Causes,

manifestations, and consequences (pp. 35-52). Washington: American Psychological Association.

Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185,

1124-1131.