Experimental research Internal assessment Experimental research jette hannibal

Considerations in experimental research What is the aim of the experiment? What studies and theories are considered in your research? How do you plan to manipulate and measure variables? How will you select participants? Can the effect of confounding variables be minimized? - for example: How will you control for demand characteristics, order effects and participant variables? Which experimental design will you use? How will you deal with ethical issues? How will you reference your sources? jette hannibal

Ethical considerations Non-human animals must not be used No deception No harm done to participants (physical or psychological) Briefing Debriefing Right to withdraw Confidentiality Informed consent Children: parental consent jette hannibal

Consent form Consent Form.   Consent Form. ·          I have been informed about the nature of the experiment ·          I understand that I have the right to withdraw from the experiment at any time, and that any information/data about me will remain confidential ·          My anonymity will be protected as my name will not be identifiable. ·          The experiment will be conducted so that I will not be demeaned in any way. ·          I will be debriefed at the end, and have the opportunity to find out the results. I give my informed consent to participating in this experiment NAME and date____________________________________________ Contact number_____________________________________________ jette hannibal

Table of contents Table of contents follows the abstract. All pages must be numbered. jette hannibal

Introduction: Background literature and justification of your own research General introduction to the psychological subject area under investigation Summary and analysis of key theories and previous research studies in the area including references, e.g. Stroop (1935) Theories and studies must be analysed in sufficient detail – especially the replicated study 2 studies Rationale and justification of your experiment The aim jette hannibal

Introduction (Coolican, 1994) jette hannibal

Aim of study Topic under investigation (e.g. Memory) and expected results What you intended to find out in the study (e.g. to investigate whether using imagery or rehearsal will result in higher recall of words) Aim introduces operationalised research hypothesis and null hypothesis (HL) Ex: The aim of the study was to investigate whether imagery or rehearsal resulted in the highest mean recall of words from a word-list. jette hannibal

Method consists of 4 sections Design type and justification of design (repeated measures/independent design), controls, ethical considerations, identification of variables (IV and DV) Participants Relevant characteristics of sample, target population, sampling techniques (justified) Apparatus/Materials list of materials used, reference to copies in appendices Procedure Must be written in so much detail that it can be replicated. Reference to appendices for a copy of the material used. jette hannibal

Designs – consider strengths and limitations in each design Design must be justified (relate to why you choose a specific design and refer to strengths) Independent design: each participant participates in only one condition (random allocation of participants to conditions e.g. drawing names out of a hat decides who goes in which condition) Larger sample needed so more time consuming No order effect but problem with participant variables. This is controlled for by random allocation of participants to the experimental conditions. Repeated measures design: each participant participates in both conditions Easier to get a smaller sample Order effects but counter-balancing possible No participant variables Account of controls in the experiment (what you did in order to control for confounding variables) jette hannibal

IV and DV Must be operationalised (what is being measured) and clear Must reflect aim Stated at the end of the design section The IV in this experiment was whether participants used rehearsal or imagery The DV was amount of words correctly recalled from the wordlist jette hannibal

Selection of participants 20 participants in an IB experiment Justify your sampling method In principle good to have a represenative sample but nor really possible in IA. Ask the following questions: What is the target population? (the population you are interested in) What are relevant characteristics of your sample? your target population? Does your sample represent them? In IB exp.: Opportunity sample: you take what is available because it is the most convenient and easiest Easy and not time consuming (strenght) Not a representative sample (weakness) jette hannibal

Procedure Clear description of what you did and in what order Written in words (see samples) Must be so clear that it can be replicated by another researcher Refer to materials used in the experiment (and make a reference to an example of it in the appendices) Use past tense, the third person and the passive voice: The participants were asked to ....... jette hannibal

Appendices Supplementary information One copy of the materials(s) used Copy of standardized instructions and debriefing notes Copy of informed consent paper (including parental consent if participants are children) jette hannibal