HPS104 Foundations of Psychological Science Assignment Part A –Formulation and Research Design SAQs (20%) Due Friday 5pm of teaching week 6 Submission process – sighted and approved by tutor (in person or via online) Word limit – there is plenty of leeway (just be concise and don’t waffle!) Once you’ve chosen your research issue, have a think about how you might go about addressing the issue empirically. An important place to start – the first step –is to think about the research question you would need to ask and answer in order to resolve the issue to your satisfaction. The second step is to think about which variables you will need to operationalise and measure in order to address your research question. The third step is to think about the research designs that are appropriate to test this research question. The designs need to be valid and logical, feasible and sensible, and of course, ethical (at least intuitively – we realise you haven’t yet covered ethics in this unit!). Next, rank the designs from best to worst – the assumption (and it’s only an assumption) is that your #1 ranked design is the design you will explore and elaborate upon in the subsequent parts of this assignment. And finally, for each design think about what the results would need to look like in order to resolve the research question and thus resolve the original research issue satisfactorily. As always, remember to use what you’ve learned in this unit, including the use of correct terminology. And check out the worked example to see what’s expected of an ‘excellent’ submission. Which issue number have you chosen to address? ISSUE#?. QUESTION 1. Formulate a testable research question that addresses your chosen issue. Expandable text box QUESTION 2. List some measures you would need to test this research question. Where appropriate, identify these measures as operationalising independent (predictor) or dependent (outcome or ‘criterion’) variables. Expandable text box QUESTION 3. In rank order, name and briefly describe the main research designs (and their results) that could logically, feasibly, and ethically be applied to test your research question. Rank Design name Describe design and the expected Results 1 2 3 4 NOTES Unlike the other parts of the Assignment, Part A is entirely competency-based and serves as the basis of the remaining parts of the assignment. And the way we assess it reflects this, with your Part A needing to be judged as ‘achieved’ by your tutor before you can continue to Part B of the Assignment. For these same reasons it is treated less formally than the other parts, in the following ways: • Because this is entirely a competency-based task, achieving Part A will result in a 20/20 for the assignment. Failure to achieve it will result in having to rework and resubmit it (within one week of receiving your feedback) for a maximum mark of 15/20 (i.e., students will be penalised 5 marks for repeating it). Note that minor errors will not result in a “not-achieved” outcome. Tutors will be given lots of discretion here. The fact is that most students will have something worth correcting, worth improving, etc. That’s the whole point of this assessment! And some errors won’t result in a fail grade or require a resubmit. You’ll probably still get 20/20, you’ll just have some changes to make to your plans for Part B. Only submissions with fundamental problems will result in a “not-achieved” outcome. • Please seek feedback from your tutor before submitting Part A. Ask/discuss it with them during Seminars, via email, and with your peers during Seminars as well. In fact, consulting with people for Part A is probably the best reason to attend the first two Seminars in this unit! • Rather than submitting Part A formally via Dropbox, you will be submitting it directly to your tutor face-to-face in Seminars, via Blackboard Seminars, or via their email. Tutors will be tasked with sighting your work, evaluating it as “achieved / not achieved”, and, where warranted, suggesting improvements that you can apply to subsequent parts of the assignment. • Once your Part A has been sighted by your tutor and approved by them (i.e., competency ‘achieved’) you can work on and then submit Part B. RUBRIC The following criteria will be used to determine if you have ‘achieved’ Assignment Part A: NOT ACHIEVED (0) ACHIEVED (20) Question 1 There are fundamental problems with your formulation. The statement provided is in the form of a testable question that is sufficiently relevant to the research issue under consideration. The research question is also logically consistent with the research designs described in Question 3, particularly the #1 ranked design. Question 2 There are fundamental problems with your proposed measures. Measures are described that logically and realistically could quantify the variables of interest. Psychometric properties of the measures are emphasized according to their intended use. Question 3 There are fundamental problems with your design choices, their respective rankings, and/or your description of results. The research designs described constitute valid, feasible, and ethical empirical tests of the research question. The results described are consistent with the design and constitute strong evidence in relation to the stated research question. Several research designs are considered and their relative rankings are reasonable. No obvious design options are omitted. OUTCOME PLEASE RESUBMIT THIS ASSESSMENT WITHIN ONE WEEK OF RECEIVING THIS FEEDBACK (mark capped at 15/20) CONGRATULATIONS! PROCEED TO PART B OF THE ASSIGNMENT.