Scientific thinking

Scientific thinking

Make the assignment as per instructions

1
Instructions for the Scientific Thinking Assignment
PSYC 1115 (Dr. Skinner)
For this assignment, you will be asked to propose a simple psychological study and find two
peer-reviewed sources on that topic. Your final paper should be submitted in the submission
folder drop box on D2L. This assignment will be completed outside of class time and is worth
10% of your final grade.
Learning Objectives: By the end of this assignment you will be able to:
? Describe a psychological question of interest
? Prepare a simple research proposal using the scientific method to explore a psychological
question
? Find and cite two peer-reviewed sources for a specific topic
Before You Begin:
Read the instructions and grading rubric thoroughly and be sure to ask for help if you have any
questions.
In the folder in >Content Browser >Assignments >Research Proposal Assignment you will find
these instructions as well as the grading rubric. You will also see additional resources. I
recommend you become familiar with the following before you begin:
– Review the basics of psychological research
You may also want to review the following addition resources from the Summary & Sources
Assignment:
– Assignment Guide – PsycInfo help and more
– Scientific Writing
I mention additional assignment supports below.
Instructions:
For this assignment you are going to write a research proposal (maximum 500 words) for a
simple scientific study exploring a question of your choice. You must design either a
correlational study or an experiment – you cannot do a descriptive study. You will then find
and cite two sources related to your topic.
Note: this is a study proposal. You DO NOT need to collect any data from participants.
2
I want you to ask a psychological question that interests you. This can vary from asking ‘Does
culture shock affect academic performance?’ to ‘What is the effect of living with pain on social
relationships?’ Think of any question you have related to psychology.
—-
Support Questions:
Over the past few weeks you have been completing ‘How Would You Know?’ exercises on
LaunchPad. These exercises ask you questions on study design and interpretation. We will
follow that format here, except this time you are going to choose the psychological question.
Answering these questions will form the ‘outline’ of your proposal. It is then up to you to write
the proposal more formally. Do not submit the answers to these questions as your proposal.
These questions are here to guide you, but it is up to you to take these ideas and put them into
full paragraphs and a well thought-out proposal.
? Begin by considering the question you have chosen. Why do you think that this question
is interesting or important?
? Now that you have your question, you will need to choose a study design. Consider the
options below – which is the best design for your study? (note: you must do either a
correlational study or an experiment)
– Correlational Study
– An Experiment
? Now you must decide who will be the best participants for your study. (Remember that
many times in psychology we use convenience samples, such as student participants or
willing volunteers from our community.)
? Now consider how you are going to measure your variables of interest. These, recall, are
your operational definitions.
– If you are doing a correlational study, will you use naturalistic observation,
survey, or some other method to measure the two variables of interest?
– If you are doing an experiment, what are your independent and dependent
variables? How will you measure your dependent variable?
? Now state what you think you will find (i.e., your hypothesis) – what are your predicted
results?
? F
co
ex
—-
Once you
? B
? T
? N
? D
? F
This shou
You will
read/hav
credible
? G
? C
? In
sh
? F
‘P
Formatt
Each disc
conventio
? U
inally, list tw
ontrol these
xplanation to
u have answ
Begin with a
Then state the
Now state you
Discuss any p
inish with a
uld be no lon
then need to
ve a full und
sources on
Go to https://
Click on Psyc
nput at least
hock’ and ‘a
ind two artic
Proposed Re
ting:
cipline has d
ons of the di
Use full sente
wo or three p
variables in
o the propos
ered all of th
sentence on
e methods yo
ur specific h
potential con
statement as
nger than 50
o find and ci
derstanding
your topic.
langara.ca/li
cInfo (see im
two keywor
academic per
cles that are
eferences’ se
different con
iscipline are
ences (not po
potential con
your study?
sed relationsh
hese question
the question
ou would us
hypothesis an
nfounds an w
s to why the
00 words.
ite two peerg
of the artic
In order to d
ibrary/article
mage below)
rds based on
rformance’).
e credible so
ection (see fo
nventions for
as follows:
oint form).
nfounding va
? If not, does
hip between
ns, turn your
n being inve
se (design, pa
nd expected
whether you
research is
-reviewed ar
cles – simply
do so:
es-in-journal
your propos
.
ources and c
ormatting be
r formatting
ariables for y
s that mean t
n your variab
r answers in
stigated
articipants, o
results.
can or canno
important.
rticles on tha
y demonstr
ls/
sal (for exam
copy and pas
elow).
your paper.
your study. A
that there ma
bles?
nto a full res
operational d
ot control th
at topic. You
ate that you
mple, you ma
ste the two c
In psycholo
Are you able
ay be an alte
earch propo
definitions)
hese variable
u do not nee
u can find
ay put in ‘cu
citations in a
ogy, the
3
e to
ernate
osal.
es
ed to
ulture
a
4
? Your assignment should have a title page. A sample title page is below.
? Use at least 1 inch (2.54 cm) margins – the default should be fine
? Use headings. I suggest you use headings for each ‘Part’ of the assignment. The headings
should be centred and bolded.
? Use 12 point Times New Roman Font.
? Use double-spacing.
? Use tabs to begin paragraphs.
? Number the pages.
See below for a sample assignment.
Assignment Supports:
You may want to review the library tutorials on Avoiding Plagiarism and Citing Your Sources.
Feel free to come visit me during office hours if you have questions about the assignment. The
free psych tutors have also been given permission to help you with this assignment. It would be
a wise idea to come by once you have your ‘outline’ (or answered to above questions) for
some quick input from me.
In addition, you can use the library resources to help edit your paper. The Langara Writing
Centre offers in person support or you can submit your assignment to the online writing help
service Write Away for feedback in 24-48 hours. (See the Library website for more info.)
Besides the two proposed references from your PsycInfo search, this assignment does not require
the use of any external sources other than your textbook and course notes, which do not need to
be cited. However, if for some reason you do wish to cite a source, you should do so using APA
style. The Langara guide to APA citations is found here: http://langara.ca/library/researchhelp/citing-help/pdf/citing-apa-02Oct2012.pdf

Submitting Your Assignment:
Once your assignment is completed, you will need to submit a .pdf file to D2L. To submit your
assignment on D2L go to > Assessments > Assignments on the navigation bar. From there you
should see a submission drop box called Research Proposal Assignment drop box. Click on the
link. On the submit files page, it should list the grading rubric for you to review. Once you are
happy with your submission, click Add a File. Upload the file and press Add. Click submit. On
the file upload page click done.
It will take approximately one to two weeks to grade your assignments. I will post an
announcement once feedback is available. When it is, go back to the submission folder and click
on the link to view the grading rubric and other comments.
5
Be sure to submit your assignment on time. Although I will accept late assignments until one
week after the due date, you will lose 5% per day starting at 12:00 am after the due date.
Grading Rubric:
Review the grading rubric posted on D2L to see how your assignment will be graded. You can
find the grading rubric under > Content Browser > Assignments > Summary & Sources
Assignment > Summary & Sources Grading Rubric.
Note that in addition to the questions above, you will be evaluated on creativity, writing
style, and formatting.
A sample assignment title page and submission is on the following pages.
1
Title of Assignment
Student Name
Student Number
Professor’s Name
Date of Submission

2
Assignment Title
Below your assignment title, you will write your proposal. This will be 500 words total.
Use paragraphs as necessary. Be sure you answered all the criteria above. You should also
review the grading rubric to make sure you haven’t missed anything!
Proposed References
Paste the citations for the two journal articles you found in your PsycInfo search. Try to ensure
you use proper formatting – see the APA guide at https://langara.ca/library/research-help/citinghelp/pdf/citing-apa-02Oct2012.pdf.