APA Method Section

 Things to keep in mind...  Purpose: Replication Assess reliability & validity Make design clear Keep it precise, concise, and clear

Subdivided Subdivided 1.Participants 2.Materials 3.Procedure

Participants Participants  Number  Sex  Age  General demographic characteristics  Selection & assignment of participants  Type of sampling procedure  Recruitment procedures  Incentives used to encourage participation  Did you have to exclude any participants, and why?

Which heading do I use: or ? Which heading do I use: Materials or Apparatus ?  Describe what was used in the study Apparatus Apparatus Special equipment used Special equipment used Materials Materials Questionnaires, written or videotaped sketches, etc Questionnaires, written or videotaped sketches, etc Don’t include ordinary items like paper, pen, etc. Don’t include ordinary items like paper, pen, etc.

Materials Materials Operationally define each variable Operationally define each variable Describe each variable Describe each variable What it is What it is How it was measured How it was measured Describe questionnaires (if applicable) Describe questionnaires (if applicable)

Procedure Procedure – Step-by-step description of precisely how the study was conducted Enough detail for replication Enough detail for replication Include: Include: – Experimental manipulations How were participants recruited and assigned to groups? How were participants recruited and assigned to groups? – IV (levels), DV (how you measured it) – All research procedures: Location of study Location of study Instructions given to participants Instructions given to participants Actions performed by participants Actions performed by participants Amount of time participants were given to complete the tasks Amount of time participants were given to complete the tasks Rewards for participation Rewards for participation

Method Participants 260 undergraduate students (216 female, 42 male, 2 other, M age = 21.5 years, age range: years) were recruited from the SUNY New Paltz subject pool. All data from participants who reported a previous diagnosis of OCD personality disorder were excluded from analysis; therefore, this sample was considered to be representative of a nonclinical population.

Materials The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) checklist was adapted from Goodman et al. (1989a). The Y-BOCS checklist includes eight categories of symptoms of obsession (i.e. aggression, contamination, somatic, sexual, hoarding/saving, religious, symmetry, and miscellaneous) and seven categories of symptoms of compulsions (i.e. cleaning/washing, checking, repeating rituals, counting, ordering/arranging, hoarding/collecting, and miscellaneous). The checklist contained 61 items measuring the presence and severity of both obsessive (39 items) and compulsive (22 items) symptoms; however, 17 items identified as miscellaneous were removed from analysis because a category has not yet been agreed upon for these items. The checklist was reformatted from the original interview format into a self-report questionnaire so that the survey could be administered online. The answer options included: “yes, currently”, “yes, in the past”, and “no, never” (see Appendix). The checklist was followed by two demographic questions pertaining to the participants sex and age, as well as a question about whether or not the participant had any previous diagnosis of OCD (see Appendix).

Procedure Participants completed the checklist online using surveymonkey.com. The entire survey took around minutes to complete.

TYPE OF NUMBER HOW TO EXPRESS EXAMPLE 1 – 9 WORDS One pumpkin 10 and up NUMBERS 300 pumpkins Numbers in an abstract NUMBERS 3 students Numbers with a measurement NUMBERS 3.57 cm Numbers in a graph NUMBERS M = 86 Numbered series NUMBERS Column 4 Times, dates, ages, scores, points on a scale, exact sums of money, numbers as numbers NUMBERS $4.17; 1 hr 20 min October 31, 2011, at 2:20 pm 4 years old 3 on a 5-point scale The number 7

TYPE OF NUMBER HOW TO EXPRESS EXAMPLE Approximation for days, months, and years WORDS We landed on the moon approximately forty years ago. Numbers beginning a sentence WORDS Seventy percent of the sample List of numbers with 3 or less WORDS Subjects could choose among one, two, or three pathways List of numbers with 4 or more NUMBERS Subjects could choose among 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 pathways Back-to-back numbers WORDS & NUMERALS Twelve 3-year-olds