Assignment 2 Background: You are part of a team of researchers who are interested in the effectiveness of biofeedback training on the anxiety levels shown in university students. Your research team hopes to conduct a series of studies to assess this. So far, your team has conducted one study in order to get some initial data that can then be used to inform some additional experiments that they will carry out. As part of this research team, it is your job to write a laboratory report on this experiment with a view to submitting it to a journal. You will therefore need to write an Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion section. You also need to provide your reference list. The word limit for your report is 2500 words (+/- 10%), which includes everything except the reference list and appendices. Task details and advice: As always, the Introduction should build up a strong rationale for this study, culminating with the specific aims and hypotheses of the experiment. As part of developing this rationale, you will need to provide a review of relevant literature. Use as many relevant citations as you can to demonstrate that you have read broadly. Try to use the research to build up your argument, rather than simply describing the research. If you find conflicting evidence, by all means include it! Rather than it undermining your argument, you can use it to argue for why more research is needed (i.e., the present experiment!). You should also critically consider the research you refer to; have conclusions been made that aren't warranted by the evidence? Have they had methodological flaws which places doubt on their conclusions? If so, include this in your review of the literature. Your hypotheses should extend clearly from the rationale you have developed. Do not change your hypotheses to match the results; what you hypothesize must extend logically from your rationale in your Intro. It is perfectly acceptable to have results that do not support your hypotheses. Your Methods section will need to be comprised of four subsections: Design, Participants, Materials and Procedure. If you are unsure what to include in these sections, you should consult a writing for psychology guide, such as those written by Burton or O'Shea (copies available in the library). The Results section should present all of the relevant data and statistical analyses in a concise manner. You should use tables and figures where appropriate. Remember, tables should be used when you have a lot of data that needs to be summarized as this is more concise than listing a large number of means andstandard deviations in text. If you are only referring to a couple of means/SDs, though, then these are ok to go in the text. Alternatively, if you want to illustrate the relationship between several different means then this is best done using a Figure (don't forget to include SE as error bars). Make sure that you do not present the same data in more than one format; this is redundant (e.g., do not present means and standard deviations on a figure and then also report those same means and SDs in text). However, you do need to refer to any tables or figures in text (e.g., "These means are presented in Table 1." Or "As illustrated in Figure 1…"). Your results section should tell your reader what you have found, but not include a discussion of why these results occurred (i.e., leave interpretations to your discussion). Your Discussion section is an extremely important part of your report. This is the section where you will demonstrate to prospective readers (and, indeed, to your fellow research team, whom you wish to impress!), that you have a clear grasp of the topic and the experiment itself. It is easy to leave this section to the last minute, but a poorly crafted Discussion section must be avoided! Before writing this section, you should spend time carefully considering your results and what they mean, and critically assessing them. Did they support your hypotheses? If not, what are some possible explanations for this? Are your results consistent with previous research? (Note: if you are finding this difficult to write about, chances are you haven't adequately reviewed the literature in your Intro – so go back and do this!) If your results are not consistent with previous research, why might this be? Even if the results did support the hypotheses, are there any alternative explanations for the results that cannot be ruled out (and thus perhaps something that future research would need to investigate)? Are there any limitations of this study that affect your ability to draw clear conclusions? Make sure that you understand specifically how any limitations you propose might have affected your results and be able to explain this. Pointing out a possible limitation without explanation how specifically it might have affected your results is not useful (and will not receive any marks). In addition to thinking about limitations, think about some possible implications of this study and how these results might be used to inform real-life problems (i.e., what are some applications?). Also think about what contributions this study has made to understanding this research area. Remember, your research team intends to conduct a whole series of studies examining this topic. So, as part of your report, you should propose (briefly) some directions for future research. Often this can be tied in well to a discussion of limitations, by proposing why it is important that future research avoids these issues and how they might do so. Finally, you should present a conclusion. What are the "take home messages" of this report? What has the experiment achieved? What are the key findings? What are some of the potential benefits to continued research in this area (i.e., summarise the applications)?Throughout your whole report, you should take care to use 6th edition APA style, paying special attention to the correct formatting of tables and figures, in-text citations, and your reference list. Since you are writing this report on behalf of your research team, it is essential that your writing is of a very high standard. This means you should ensure there are no spelling, typographical, grammatical, or punctuation errors in your report. You should aim to use a clear, concise, academic style of writing throughout the whole report. Pay close attention to the structure of your writing, particularly in the Introduction and in the Discussion sections. Make sure that your arguments all flow logically from one another (hint: Use linking sentences at the start of each paragraph! Use words like: Accordingly, Consequently, Conversely, Additionally, However, Nevertheless…to direct your reader). To get the best flow of arguments, you will often need to reorder points, even whole paragraphs, within a section before you get a final product that reads well from start to finish. ----------------------- This document is not an exhaustive list of everything you need to include in each section of a lab report. Instead, it aims to give you some direction and to point out the key features that students often miss. I strongly advise that in addition to carefully following the hints in this document, you also use an APA style guide and a writing in psychology guide (both accessible in the library and online).The experiment The participants were all final-year undergraduate university students. Your data output contains the necessary participant details. The experiment was conducted over 10 weeks, where all participants attended a one hour session on the university campus at the same time each week. Your research team randomly allocated all of the participants to one of two groups: an "Intervention" group, and a "Control" group. Below are the procedure instructions that you research team used. Use this information to describe the experimental procedure in your report, but do not copy it exactly. You must put it in your own words (and, you should never number/list procedure in a lab report anyway). Don't forget to write in past tense, too! To perform this experiment you will need the following apparatus and measures: 1. The shortened (21 item) Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Test-retest reliability: r=.71 for depression, r=.79 for anxiety and r=.81 for stress. Validity: Correlation of .81 between the DASS anxiety subscale and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI); correlation of .74 between the DASS Depression scale and the Beck Depression Scale (BDI). The DASS-21 and its scoring sheet are attached here so that you can describe it properly in your report. 2. "Wild Divine" multimedia biofeedback training software, installed on an HP laptop computer running Windows 7. 3. "IOM" electronic biofeedback monitor ( model: HR001.1), comprised of three finger sensors (one to measure heart rate, the other two to measure skin conductance level). Only the two skin conductance sensors are used in this experiment. Website for the Wild Divine software and OIM hardware: www.wilddivine.com To perform this experiment you will need to follow these procedures: Week 1 1. The experimenter should ask the participant to complete the consent form and answer any questions about the experiment before proceeding. 2. The experimenter should ask the participant to complete the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS), following the instructions given on this handout.3. The experimenter should attach the sensors to the participant's index and ring fingers of their nondominant hand to record electrodermal activity ("skin conductance level" (SCL)). The pads of their fingers should rest comfortably inside the sensors with the flaps going over their fingernails. 4. Remind the participant to keep their hand as still as possible to minimize movement artefacts. 5. Wrap the participant's hand in a soft cloth to keep the hand warm and promote sweat gland activity. 6. Ask your participant to relax quietly for 5 minutes while you record a baseline of their SCL. This data will be recorded by the computer program. 7. Instruct your participant that they will now perform a test, in the form of a computer game, and that you will be monitoring their performance. The task is a 'car race', where their goal is to beat the other cars. 8. Instruct your participant that in this task, their car will go faster the more relaxed they are. Conversely, the more anxious they are, the slower their car will go. Do not give your participant any instructions on how to control their anxiety levels. 9. This task will take 5 minutes. 10. The computer program will record the participant's mean SCL during the 5 minute test period. Week 2 – 9 1. For the Intervention group, participants will spend one hour each week using the "Wild Divine" Biofeedback training program. This program teaches participants to learn to control their body's physiological responses (specifically, SCL and heart rate) through breathing exercises and relaxation skills. They receive real-time feedback on their SCL and heart rate (i.e., biofeedback) so that they can track their performance. Note: We have omitted more specific detail here, since you should be able to describe this part of the procedure based on your own use of the equipment in class. 2. The control group simply attends their regular class time without the opportunity to engage in biofeedback training. Week 10 1. The procedures of Week 1 will be repeated here i.e., the participant will complete the DASS, followed a baseline measure of mean SCL being recorded, followed by recording of the mean SCL during the Test condition.What does the data represent?  Baseline measures of resting skin conductance level amplitude were taken at the start of each testing session. (averaged over a 5 minute resting period).  The mean skin conductance amplitude (in micro Siemens) were also measured during each testing session. (averaged over a 5 minute test period using the Alive "car race" game).  The change in skin conductance amplitude (i.e., increase or decrease relative to baseline) was also calculated. This is the DV used in the analyses.  Prior to data analysis, the skin conductance data was corrected for artefact by applying a low pass filter with an upper cut-off frequency of 0.5Hz.  The type of statistical analysis used was a split-plot ANOVA (SPANOVA) (also known as a "mixed design ANOVA"). This type of analysis is used when there is both a between-group variable (such as two different groups) and repeated-measures variable (such as when a measure is taken at two time points). o Look at the "tests of between-subjects effects" box for your between-groups IV (i.e., this will tell you whether or not there is a significant overall, or main, effect of Group). Don't forget to report the direction of the effect (i.e., look at the overall means for your two-groups). o Look at the "tests of within-subjects effects" box for your repeated-measures IV (i.e., this will tell you whether or not there is a significant main effect of Time). Again, don't forget to report the direction of the effect (i.e., look at the overall means for your two time-points). o You also need to take a look at the interaction between your IVs i.e., is there a difference in the effect of time (i.e., the change from Time 1 to Time 2) on your experimental group compared to the control group? Look again at the "tests of within-subjects effects" box to look for whether or not there is a significant interaction between your two IVs. o If there is, you need to follow this interaction effect up with some post-hoc t-tests to see where the significant effect is. Were your two groups significantly different from one another at Time 1? What about at Time 2? (hint: for these two t-tests, you are comparing between groups). Was there a significant difference between Time 1 and Time 2 for your experimental group, or for your control group? (hint: for these two t-tests, you are comparing within groups). o Once again, make sure you also report the direction of any effects by looking at the means. Keep in mind you have 4 means that you are comparing here, so consider whether it is best to present this data in-text, on a figure, or in a table.  This analysis (i.e., a SPANOVA with two pairs of post-hoc t-tests) was also performed on the total DASS score.DASS21 Name: Date: Please read each statement and circle a number 0, 1, 2 or 3 which indicates how much the statement applied to you over the past week. There are no right or wrong answers. Do not spend too much time on any statement. The rating scale is as follows: 0 Did not apply to me at all 1 Applied to me to some degree, or some of the time 2 Applied to me to a considerable degree, or a good part of time 3 Applied to me very much, or most of the time 1 I found it hard to wind down 0 1 2 3 2 I was aware of dryness of my mouth 0 1 2 3 3 I couldn't seem to experience any positive feeling at all 0 1 2 3 4 I experienced breathing difficulty (eg, excessively rapid breathing, breathlessness in the absence of physical exertion) 0 1 2 3 5 I found it difficult to work up the initiative to do things 0 1 2 3 6 I tended to over-react to situations 0 1 2 3 7 I experienced trembling (eg, in the hands) 0 1 2 3 8 I felt that I was using a lot of nervous energy 0 1 2 3 9 I was worried about situations in which I might panic and make a fool of myself 0 1 2 3 10 I felt that I had nothing to look forward to 0 1 2 3 11 I found myself getting agitated 0 1 2 3 12 I found it difficult to relax 0 1 2 3 13 I felt down-hearted and blue 0 1 2 3 14 I was intolerant of anything that kept me from getting on with what I was doing 0 1 2 3 15 I felt I was close to panic 0 1 2 3 16 I was unable to become enthusiastic about anything 0 1 2 3 17 I felt I wasn't worth much as a person 0 1 2 3 18 I felt that I was rather touchy 0 1 2 3 19 I was aware of the action of my heart in the absence of physical exertion (eg, sense of heart rate increase, heart missing a beat) 0 1 2 3 20 I felt scared without any good reason 0 1 2 3 21 I felt that life was meaningless 0 1 2 3DASS Scoring Template S A D A D S A S A D S S D S A D D S A A DThe DASS-21 is a measure that assesses three negative emotional states: Depression, Anxiety and Stress (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). Number of items: 21 items (7 items for each emotional state). Procedure/Administration: Self-report format consisting of statements referring to the past week. Each item is scored on a 4-point scale (0 = Did not apply to me at all, to 3 = Applied to me very much or most of the time). How scored: Scores from each subscale are summed and multiplied by two. Subscale score range from 0 to 42. Apply template to the answer sheet and sum scores for each scale. For short (21-item) version, multiply the sum by 2. Interpretability: Higher scores indicate greater levels of distress.