ONLY USE THE ARTICLE PROVIDED! NO NEW SOURCES
As you study psychology, it is important to practice critically reviewing information from a scientific perspective. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to get you used to reading and evaluating current research in the area of visual perception. You will be able to explore a specific topic of interest to you within the subject and you will have a more in-depth opportunity to analyze some of the concepts covered in class. You can choose virtually any topic in visual perception (cognitive) you like, with one caveat: It must be related to the one of the main concepts that we cover in class. For example, you could write about alcohol intoxication affects vision, or how children who grow up in multi-ethnic families are less likely to experience “own-race” face bias. Really, anything that we talk about that gets you excited!
Introduction to the Activity
For this assignment, you will be required to evaluate an empirical study from research article that has been published in a peer reviewed psychology journal. This article should be recent (nothing before 2012**) and must involve an experiment in the field of visual perception (not just a meta-analysis or literature review).
**Exceptions to the date restriction: if you use one of the articles I post for you in the Research Paper folder, and it is older, it is still ok.
All articles must be approved by me before you begin.
Outline and Format of Paper
The following is a general outline of what to discuss in your paper.
Please follow this outline closely, as it was used to create the grading rubric.
Introduction
In one or two paragraphs, briefly provide an overview of the main topic. Begin by introducing the title of the article, the year, and the author’s last name. This should be followed by a proper DOI or hyperlink to the article’s online source. Do NOT give me a link to your google docs!
Next, define the concepts and explain the researcher’s primary hypothesis. Be sure to do so completely in your own words- I want to see that you understand what they are doing, and I can’t determine that if you quote or closely paraphrase the authors. The end of this section should smoothly transition into the next portion of your paper.
Summary Section
For this section of the paper, you will address the following:
Participants: who was in the study?
Focus on the important details only- it is not only unnecessary to describe the exact demographics of the participants, it is distracting! Tell me the number of participants, as well as the age range. However, when explaining gender/sex, ethnicity, and other important factors, do so in a general summary- do not present all the numbers and percentages for every demographic! Instead, give me the “big picture” of who the participants were: For example, you might say, “the 6th graders were mostly Hispanic/Latinx, with around 20% Caucasian.” When deciding what demographics to discuss, consider whether they are an important part of the study or if they would influence the results in any meaningful way. Most cognitive research focuses on the normal population, and it will be assumed that this is the case for your chosen study*.
*an exception to this is if the hypothesis pertains to a very specific portion of the population (for example, children in collectivist cultures with dyslexia).
2. The procedures, materials and methodology used in the experiment.
In a nutshell, tell me what they did, and how they did it!
Be sure to define and explain all measures, tests, and evaluations used in the study. Telling me they “conducted an attention task along with an executive function measure” doesn’t give me a clear picture of what actually HAPPENED in the study. This might take a little detective work on your part, but it necessary to provide specifics and examples of the tasks. So instead of the above vague description, you could have told me, “they were tasked with watching a series of squares appear on a computer screen, while also listening to a set of instructions on doing laundry”.
When describing the materials, noting that they used a computer to measure response time is sufficient- please don’t list the make and model of all the equipment! An example of an acceptable summary can be seen at the bottom of this page.
3. The results and discussion
What did they find? Was the hypothesis supported? Were there any limitations to the research (can it be generalized)? When discussing the results, summarize and explain in your own words- listing a bunch of statistical sentences is not acceptable. As with the hypothesis, I want to see that you understand what they found. I cannot do this if you quote or closely paraphrase what the authors wrote.
4. Your evaluation of the experiment and findings
For this section, I want you to begin by relating the study to concepts from our course. How are their methods or results consistent or inconsistent with what you learned in class or in the textbook?
Finally, conclude with a brief (one paragraph) thoughtful discussion of which part stood out most for you and its impact on you. In forming your discussion for this section, consider some of the following questions: What value does this new information have for you? How can this be applied to your future career? Does this new information change your perspective? Was the information you found congruent with what you expected to find? What was the most significant factor that stood out for you?
Although discussion of real-life experience occurs in this section of your paper, keep in mind you have limited space in which to make your points. It is easy to get lost in giving detailed life events that may lead you off point. Remember to keep it concise and relevant to the point you are trying to make. How well you develop your discussion in answer to some of the questions outlined (or similar questions) will determine the points you receive for this section.
NOTE: DO NOT QUOTE DIRECTLY FROM THE ARTICLE. PARAPHRASE ONLY- ALL WORDS YOU USE MUST BE YOUR OWN! EACH QUOTE USED WILL RESULT IN A 2.5 % DEDUCTION.
Grading
Grading for the paper overall will be based on the content, but other factors will also be considered, including paper presentation and APA style. 10% of the points will be given based on quality of writing – proper grammar, punctuation, word usage, clarity, completeness of ideas and flow of paper.
Basic Format
Papers are to be 3 ½ – 4 typed pages, double spaced with Times New Roman size 12 font and 1-inch margins. Points will be deducted if you go over 4 ½ pages. Because all your info comes from the same source, no in-text citations are needed. You also do not need a title page, abstract or reference page. Simply introduce the authors and article title in the first paragraph and provide the DOI link.
Late Policy
Papers turned in late the next day will be penalized 5% up until 24 hours (11:59 pm the following day). After that, they will be accepted for up to 3 days but penalized 10% per day (including weekends). After 4 days I will not accept any papers and you will receive a zero.
Also be aware that because this paper is first assigned a month before it is due, I am very strict about the deadline and will only make exceptions to the late penalty under the most extreme of conditions. An unfortunate event that prevents you from being able to write it in the final days before the due date is not an extreme circumstance! Don’t let procrastination cost you points, and don’t wait until the last minute to begin working on it. A good rule to follow when dealing with long-term deadlines is to assume something will go wrong, and give yourself a buffer zone!
Drafts
There are no official rough drafts assigned; however, I encourage you to get feedback before submitting your work for a grade. I will go over your paper with you one time if you have any questions or just want to make sure you’re on the right track. To do this, please join me during office hours or make an appointment if my office hours interfere with your work schedule. To help me assist you, please email me a copy of your draft prior to meeting me.
Examples: Describing materials and results
Good: “participants were all college students, with normal mental abilities, prescreened to show no previous memory problems.”
Bad: “Participants were 38 undergraduate students from the University of Montana, given extra credit for their participation. There were 16 males (average age 23) and 22 females (average age 21.5).”
Good: “On the screens, one word at a time would appear, either in green or in red. The participants had to push either the left arrow or the right arrow, depending on the color of the word. The computer kept track of how long it took them to do this. 30 words were shown in all, for 3 seconds each. Half the participants were in the control condition, where they had to push right for red and left for green. The other half were told to push left for red and right for green.”
Bad: “First, the participants sat down at the computers. Then, they turned them on. After waiting for the computers to boot up, the first screen gave instructions that said ‘you will be shown a series of words one at a time, for 3 seconds each. These words will be either red or green. Upon seeing each word, your task is to push the corresponding button located on the keyboard for the color you see. The keys on the keyboard are labeled for you already. If you have any questions, please ask the researcher now. Otherwise, press the space bar to begin.’ After reading these instructions, the participants asked any questions they had. Then, the first word came up, and if they were in the experiment group they had to push the left arrow if the word was red and the right arrow if the word was green. The control group pushed right if the word was red and left if it was green. They continued to do this for each of the 30 words, one at a time.”
Good: “The researchers placed the participants individually in front of personal computers.
Bad: “15 Commodore-188AxC personal computers with 15 inch screens and led displays were used. The keyboards were made by Hewlett-Packard.”
Good: “Results showed that people had significantly slower reaction times to the red-left combinations than the red-right combinations. This is consistent with the hypothesis.”
Bad: “Results of an independent-samples t-test showed t(2, N=38)=2.34, with an effect size of .07. The means were .001 and .003 for the two groups.”