OMS 356: Introduction to Behavioral Research Methods

Final Paper

Due Date: Wednesday, December 9 by 5pm

Drop off your final paper individually to your discussion instructor (DO NOT leave your paper on your TA's desk or slide it in under the door!!) OR in Bailey 102 AND submit it to SafeAssign.

Points Possible: 90

Objectives:

1. To be able to produce a well-written project report (i.e., research paper)

2. To be able to connect the parts (HW 1-7) into one paper

3. To be able to objectively evaluate your own project

Requirement:

1. This is a group work. Submit ONE paper as a group.

2. Use APA (5^th Ed.), Times New Roman, 12 font, double-space, 1 inch margins

3. Follow the instruction below and make sure that your paper has all the parts.

4. You have already written most of the parts in HW1-7. Review those assignments and make necessary changes for the final paper.

5. There is a sample paper available on blackboard for you to review.

1. Insert header (upper right corner): Include the following:

a. Short version of the name of your project: Choose the appropriate one from the following list.

1. Facebook Study

2. Alcohol Study

3. Flirting Study

4. Humor Study

b. Page number: Include page number followed by the header title.

2. Prepare a title page: Follow the sample paper on blackboard to produce the title page. Title page should include the following in this order:

a. Running head – Be consistent with the header

b. Title of the project – Full name of your project (You can name it whatever way you want)

c. Group name

d. Group members' names

e. Department Name

f. University Name

g. Description of the paper as in "Research Paper submitted as partial fulfillment of requirements for COMS 356: Introduction to Behavioral Research Methods"

h. Date

***Note: You may use single space for the title page.

3. Introduction (1 paragraph): State the overview of the study. You should briefly discuss the following:

a. The major goal of the study: What did you try to investigate?

b. The importance of the study: Why is it worthwhile investigating the topic?

c. Cite at least one article that you have reviewed.

4. Literature Review (2-3 pages): You have already worked on the literature review in HW 2. Revise HW 2 for this section. You should build up argument toward each hypothesis and/or research question by providing brief summaries of the previous studies (i.e., one required and two additional articles). This section does not need to be long, but argue for your hypotheses. Successful literature review provides strong connections between previous findings and suggests what is missing in the existing studies on the chosen topic.

5. Research Question(s) and Hypotheses: State the most updated hypotheses and/or research question. Be sure to reflect the changes in your research questions and/or hypotheses that occurred as a consequence of instrument design. You may include each hypothesis and/or research question in the literature review section.

6. Method (1-1.5 pages): Provide a brief summary of how the study was conducted (see the sample paper) and include the following sections:

a. Participants: Include the demographic information of the participants (revise your HW 6; writing up results on demographics)

b. Procedures: Describe how you conducted the survey/experiment

c. Measurement instruments (1-2 pages): Describe how the variables were measured (revise HW6; writing up results on variables). Make sure to include the following information and organize this section by variable. Each paragraph (variable description) should include the following information

1) How many items were used? What are some of the examples of items?

2) Where did you get the items? / Whose measurement is that? or How did you create it?

3) What type of scale did you use? (5-point Likert, semantic differential, what is the level of the measurement for the scale? etc.)

4) What are the mean and standard deviation?

5) What is the reliability?

For the independent variable (manipulated variable) in an experiment, describe the two conditions.

7. Results (1-2 pages): Provide the information about how you analyzed the data. In this section, you should have two parts (Hypothesis 1 and Hypothesis 2 or RQ). You have already tested H1 in HW 7 and thus you may obtain the necessary information from HW 7. Make sure to revise if instructed. For H2 or RQ (your own prediction), you have not yet run a statistical analysis. Therefore, you need to run an appropriate statistical test and report the results in APA style. Follow the result write up for H1 and complete this part. In general, you should include the following information:

a. Restate the hypothesis or RQ

b. What kind of statistical test did you perform?

c. What are the obtained value (e.g., t value, r value, etc.) and the degree of freedom?

d. Is p smaller or larger than .05?

e. Was your hypothesis supported? Did statistical significant emerge to answer your RQ?

f. What does the result mean?

***Note: Repeat the above (a-f) for Hypothesis 2 or RQ.

8. Discussion (2-3 pages): You need to discuss the findings in a reader-friendly manner. You may consult the sample paper for this section, but you should reflect your own findings and think through to write a good discussion section.

a. Summarize the findings in a non-mathematical manner.

b. Synthesize the findings: What does your finding mean? Any applications to our daily life?

c. Do your findings support the prior research on the topic? Why or Why not? Refer to your literature review.

d. If you had a hypothesis that was not supported, discuss why you think it was not supported.

e. Provide limitations of your project and make a couple of suggestions for future research on the topic.

9. Appendix:

a. Appendix A: Include a copy of your survey as appendix. You can simply type in "Appendix A" on top of the survey.

b. Appendix B: SPSS output for Hypothesis 2 or RQ. You can write or type in "Appendix B" on top of the output.

References: Cite all the sources in APA format

GRADING GUIDELINES

Formatting:

Used Times New Roman, 12 font, double space, 1 inch margins: YES / NO (-5 pts)

Used section headings (Introduction, Literature Review, etc.): YES / NO (-3 pts)

Title Page (5 pts)

Header and page number is appropriately placed (upper right-hand corner, page number followed by header)

(1 POINT)

All the necessary components are included (1/2 POINT EACH)

c. Running head – Be consistent with the header

Should be one of the following:

1. Facebook Study

2. Alcohol Study

3. Flirting Study

4. Humor Study

d. Title of the project – Full name of your project (Should be relevant to the project topic)

e. Group name

f. Group members' names

g. Department Name

h. University Name

i. Description of the paper as in "Research Paper submitted as partial fulfillment of requirements for COMS 356: Introduction to Behavioral Research Methods"

j. Date

Introduction (5 pts)

1. Clearly stated the purpose of the project (2 POINTS)

2. Solid rationale was provided (3 POINTS)

3. Cited at least one article (IF NOT, -1)

Literature Review (12 pts)

1. Logical reasoning was provided to support each hypothesis and/or research question (6 POINTS)

6/6 If well-written and clear

5/6 If reasoning is present, but could be more clear

4/6 If the section is clear but does not provide logical arguments for the hypotheses

3/6 or less If the section is very poorly written and no argument is present for the hypotheses

2. Included all three articles with adequate detail (2 POINTS FOR EACH ARTICLE)

Research Question(s) and Hypotheses (5 pts)

Stated Hypotheses or RQ in a clear manner (2.5 FOR EACH)

-Hypothesis 1 should match exactly the given hypothesis from the research materials

FLIRTING STYLE:

Hypothesis 1: Individuals with a ________ flirting style will be ________ (more/less) likely to experience romantic chemistry with a potential dating partner.

NOTE: For Flirting style (Should choose ONE; Traditional Style, Sexual Style, Fun Flirting Style, Sincere Flirting Style, or Polite Flirting Style

HUMOR STYLE:

Hypothesis 1: Individuals with a ________ sense of humor will be ________ (more/less) likely to experience communication apprehension.

NOTE: for Humor style, should choose ONE; Affiliative Humor, Self Enhancing Humor, Aggressive Humor, or Self Defeating Humor)

ALCOHOL STUDY:

Hypothesis 1: More explicit "drink responsibly" messages in alcohol advertisements will be negatively related to the number of drinks that are appropriate to consume.

FACEBOOK STUDY:

Hypothesis 1: In comparison to negative Facebook wall posts, positive Facebook wall posts will increase the wall owner's social attractiveness.

-Hypothesis 2 should be written so that the IV and DV are clearly evident

Method (18 pts)

1. Provided sufficient demographic information of the participants (3 POINTS)

-Gender (frequency and percent) (1 POINT)

-Age (mean and standard deviation) (1 POINT)

-Year in school (frequency and percent) (1 POINT)

-Other demographic information (not required) should report appropriate statisitics (IF NOT -1)

2. Provided a brief description of how the study was conducted (2 POINTS)

-What exactly where participants asked to do?

3. Included measurement information with necessary elements for all the variables (13 POINTS TOTAL)

- E.g.,

- How many items were used? What are some of the examples of items? OR how was the IV manipulated in the experimental designs? (2 POINTS EACH FOR A TOTAL OF 6 POINTS)

-They should have 3 measurements for the survey designs (Flirting and Humor styles)

-They should have 2 measurements for the experimental designs (Facebook and Drinking) And they should also report how was the IV manipulated, in the experiment.

- Where did you get the items? / Whose measurement is that? or How did you create it? (2 POINTS)

- What type of scales did you use? (5-point Likert, semantic differential, etc.) (1 POINT)

- What are the mean and standard deviation? (2 POINTS)

- What is the reliability? (2 POINTS)

Results (20 pts)

1. Restated hypotheses and/or RQ (4 POINTS)

2. Stated the statistical test used for each hypothesis/RQ

-Must use the right statistical test for the hypothesis/research question (2 POINTS EACH)

3. Clearly stated whether each hypothesis was supported (4 POINTS)

4. Provided the necessary statistical results for each hypothesis (4 POINTS)

-FOR CORRELATION: r (df) = X, p < or > .05

-FOR T-TEST: t (df) = X, p < OR > .05 and means and standard deviations for each group

5. Stated what the result indicates (4 POINTS)

Discussion (15 pts)

1. Summarized the findings in a non-mathematical manner. (4 points)

4/4 clearly written and accurate

3/4 unclear but accurate

2/4 missing part of the findings or inaccurate

0/4 section is missing

2. Appropriately synthesized the findings (4 points)

4/4 insightful analysis of the finding and what they mean to daily life

3/4 analysis is unclear but accurate

2/4 analysis is inaccurate

0/4 section is missing

3. Discussed limitations of this study (4 points)

4/4 provides at least 2 limitations that are appropriate for their study

3/4 provides 2 limitations but are not necessarily the most relevant limitations to the study

2/4 inaccurate in their explanation of the limitations

0/4 section is missing

4. Provided suggestions for the future research (3 points)

3/3 provides at least 2 suggestions appropriate to their study's findings

2/3 provides at least 2 suggestions relevant to the topic, but they are not connected to the study's findings

1/3 suggestions are unclear/inaccurate

0/3 section is missing

Appendix (5 pts)

1. Included a copy of the survey (2 points)

2. Included the SPSS output for H2 or RQ (2 points)

3. Inserted headings (i.e., Appendix) on top of survey and output (1 point)

References (5 pts)

1. Minimum of 3 sources were cited (2 points for all 3, if less than 3, they should receive 0 points on this section)

2. Precisely followed APA format (3 points)

-Should be perfect to receive full credit

Grading Rubric NAMES:

Formatting:
Used Times New Roman, 12 pt, double space, 1 inch margins		Yes		No	-5
Used Section Headings, as appropriate		Yes		No	-3
Title Page:
Header and Page # appropriately placed?		0	.25	.5	1
All components included? (1/2 point each)	0	1	2	3	4
Introduction:
Clear project purpose	0	.5	1	1.5	2
Solid rationale	0	1.5	2	2.5	3
Cited one article		Yes		No	-1
Literature review:
Reasoning provided to support each Hyp. or RQ	0	3	4	5	6
Included all 3 articles with adequate detail	0	3	4	5	6
Research questions/Hypotheses:
Hypothesis 1: Same as given for project	0	1	1.5	2	2.5
Hypothesis 2: IV & DV clearly present	0	1	1.5	2	2.5
Method:
Demographic Information
-Sex (frequency and percent)		0	.25	.5	1
-Age (M and SD)		0	.25	.5	1
-Year in school (frequency and percent)		0	.25	.5	1
-Other demographics reported correctly		Yes		No	-1
Description of Procedures	0	.5	1	1.5	2
Measurement information
# items and examples or explanation of experimental manipulation for all 3 variables (2 points each)		0	2	4	6
Explanation of where all items came from?	0	.5	1	1.5	2
Type of scale? (Likert, semantic differential)		0	.25	.5	1
Means and Standard Deviation for all scales	0	.5	1	1.5	2
Reliability for all scales	0	.5	1	1.5	2
Results:
Restated Hyp./RQs	0	1	2	3	4
Statistical test used for each Hyp/RQ	0	1	2	3	4
Were the hypotheses supported?	0	1	2	3	4
Provided necessary statistical results for each test	0	1	2	3	4
What do the results indicate?	0	1	2	3	4
Discussion:
Summarized findings in non-mathematical manner	0	1	2	3	4
Synthesized findings	0	1	2	3	4
Limitations of study	0	1	2	3	4
Suggestions for future research		0	1	2	3
Appendix:
Copy of survey		No	0	Yes	2
SPSS output for H2		No	0	Yes	2
Headings at top of each Appendix		No	0	Yes	1
References:
Minimum of 3 sources		No	0	Yes	2
Precisely followed APA		0	1	2	3
TOTAL	______/90