1. Writing a methods section
Week 12

2. The essential elements
In a report
The essential elements
Participants
Design
Materials
Procedure
Note: Sometimes these elements are merged, e.g., “Participant & Design”.
Yes, and it is usually in this order

3. Participants
How many?
It is customary to report age and gender information.
Sometimes you may report other demographic information if they are relevant (e.g., marital status in a study on relationship satisfaction)
Hence, the general rule is, report demographic information that are relevant

4. Design Name your factors and levels
Name your design (within, between, mixed)
This gives the reader an immediate framework to understand your procedures section easily.

5. Materials
Materials can include questionnaires you have adapted, special technical equipment (e.g., decibel meters, infrared thermometers, EEG, etc.)
You do not need to mention computers, keyboards, etc., unless there is something specific about the computer/keyboard that you want the reader to know.
Sometimes “Materials” is omitted (when no special materials are needed).

6. Procedure
The purpose of a Procedure section is to allow other researchers to replicate your research. So your description needs to be c____, c_______, and un__________.
So let’s practice this by having you watch a video on feature detectors.

7. Background
Feature detectors are individual neurons—or groups of neurons—in the brain which code for perceptually significant stimuli. 
In humans, the facial fusiform area is an area dedicated to face perception.

8. Toads and “worms” Watch the following video
The voice-over is muted, so use a little commonsense to guess what the experimenter wanted to test.
Imagine you are the experimenter. Describe the procedure like a real Procedure section in an article.

9. Here’s some others Change blindness
Scale errors

10. Take home messages
The reason why Methods sections exist is because scientists do not simply care about the results (statistics), but also how the results came about (methodology)
The circumstances of measurement (participants, materials, procedures) are important
A good methods section allows other researchers to know what are the essential elements needed to replicate and extend an existing research