Structure & Details of the Final Everything Paper
Perfect APA style Title Page (1 page)
Includes: Title of paper, Author name, Department & Institutional affiliation, Course & instructor name, Date
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Introduction (1/2 page maximum)
Start on new page.
Your thesis statement/ main argument of the paper à This will be about which paper is the “better and more valid one”.
Explain what is to come in the body of the paper.
Summary (1.5 pages maximum)
A description of the article’s purpose and main hypotheses
A clear statement of the study’s variables and design: Experimental or correlational? What were the main IVs and DVs and how were they operationalized? Who were the participants?
A clear description of the study’s procedure.
A paragraph in which you describe the main results and the authors’ conclusions.
Make sure to use in-text citations
Critique (1.5 pages maximum)
Interrogate the articles using the TWO of the four Big Validities. One of your validities MUST BE INTERNAL VALIDITY and the validities you select for both of the articles must be the same.
Construct validity: Evaluate the measures and manipulations
What are the variables in the study (IV, PV, DV)? How was each variable operationalized (measured/ manipulated in what way)? Be specific in your descriptions. After you describe each measure or manipulation, indicate any reliability and validity information provided in the article. Is this a feasible operationalization of the variable (face validity)? Does the article mention past studies that used this operationalization? this information, give your assessment—is each measure reliable and valid? If such information is NOT included, then evaluate that—what would you like to see? Are there better operationalizations that you could suggest?
Statistical validity: Evaluate how strongly the results support their argument.
Are the major effects statistically significant? What does this mean? For each major result, evaluate its effect size to the best of your ability. State the effect size if it’s given in terms you understand. (If it’s a statistic you don’t understand- come talk to me!)
As you evaluate statistical validity, discuss how strongly and how well the results pattern supported the authors’ hypotheses. See if you can evaluate how strong the result is in some “real world” terms, like an increase in IQ points or a weight loss of some number of pounds, or a reaction time in seconds.
INTERNAL VALIDITY (Must choose this as one of your validities): Can the study support a causal claim? Does it intend to?
First, state what specific causal claim the researchers wish to make (if it’s an experiment) or might wish to make (if it’s a correlational study).
If it’s an experiment, apply the three rules for causation and explain whether or not each rule is established in each article. If not, what is your overall evaluation? Can they make a causal statement?
If it’s a simple correlational study, apply the causal rules anyway, and describe why you can’t make a causal statement. Can you think of any other alternative explanations?
When you discuss Internal Validity, remember the criteria that you MUST have in order to establish internal validity.
Before criticizing alternative explanations, remember that a confound is a problem with systematic variability (a true confound) and not unsystematic variance (an obscuring factor). So, if you think that some people in the study might have been in a bad mood, that will not be a confound unless people in only one group were in a bad mood, and the others were not.
External validity: To whom or to what other contexts can the results be generalized?
External validity addresses two issues. To whom (if anyone) can the results be generalized? And to what other situations or settings? Remember that it’s how a sample is drawn (random sampling), not how many people are in it, that determines external validity.
Also, remember that in many studies, external validity is not the first priority. Your evaluation should acknowledge this, and explain why.
Argument (1/2 page maximum):
After critiquing the two studies on the two validities of your choosing, compare and contrast the two articles on the two types of validity: What are the strengths & weaknesses of each?
Then, make an ARGUMENT for which study is the “better or more valid” of the two. Use evidence from your critiques.
Think about our class discussions about how researchers have to prioritize and weigh validities.
Conclusion (1/2 page maximum):
Reframe and revisit your thesis statement and summarize your paper.
Are there any future directions? That is, make a concrete suggestion for a study that can be conducted in the future that addresses the shortcomings of one of your papers.
Perfect APA Style Reference Page (1 page)
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Heading says References
Reference page includes perfect citation of article
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