Posted: November 26th, 2015

What is the theory being tested (the “idea” being tested) in this study?

Instructions:

• For each article, your answers will be approximately 2 pages in length (approximately half a page per question).

• The assignment will be double-spaced with one-inch margins and will be written in 12-point, Times New Roman font.

• Please answer each question separately (i.e., “answer to question #1, answer to question #2, etc.). Do not combine all of your answers into one big paragraph.

Here are the four questions to be answered for each of the articles

1. What is the theory being tested (the “idea” being tested) in this study?

To answer this question, you will read the article’s Introduction. It will tell you about the idea the authors chose to examine in their study. What aspect of human behaviour are they testing? Discuss this idea in your own words. You might want to make use of your textbook. You can match up the ideas presented in the article with material from the text (looking for similar concepts). Nonetheless, the information that you will need to answer this question will come from the article itself. Finally, if you are unclear about the meaning of “theory”, the textbook defines this concept and gives examples.

2. What hypothesis (or hypotheses) are the authors testing in this study?

To answer this question, you are going to report the article’s hypothesis (or hypotheses). This particular answer will bring you close to quoting the article (but I still want everything put into your own words). In addition, explain what this hypothesis means. A hypothesis is a pretty direct statement/claim, so explain this statement in plain language (as if you were explaining it to someone who doesn’t understand psychology). If you are unclear about the meaning of “hypothesis”, the textbook defines this concept and gives examples.

3. How are they proposing to test these hypotheses?

To answer this question, you are going to tell me a bit about “what the authors did” in their study. They have proposed a hypothesis, and then they designed a study to test that hypothesis. You must tell me “how” they tested that hypothesis (i.e., they brought participants into a lab and had them fill out questionnaires, or they had participants walk across a very high rope bridge and then measured how their fear arousal influenced their attraction to a confederate).

4. What were the findings and the meaning of this study?

What are the results of this study? Were the hypotheses supported? If so, how? If not, what did the authors find? What do these findings mean? To answer these questions, you do not need to get into specific numbers; I want to present the results “in general.” Tip: In many articles, the authors will summarize their results at the beginning of the “discussion” section (after the results section). Often, this summary is easier to understand than the results section.

No need for Providing References And Citations For This Assignment

For this assignment, there is no need for a “References” section, nor is there any need for you to provide citations within the body of your paper (and don’t use footnotes).

Evaluation form:

Editing: Presentation and Organization (pass/fail)

• 12-point, times new roman font, and one-inch margins.
• EDITING! Your written work should demonstrate that care and consideration has gone into the writing and editing. Arguments should be clear, concise, and non-ambiguous.
• Correct use of grammar and punctuation
• No spelling mistakes have been committed
• Sentence structure promotes flow of reading (i.e., it is apparent that you have edited your work)
• For each of the answers, there a logical progression to the ideas. Is it apparent that careful thought has gone into the development of the answers (the development of the ideas)
• Writing style – third person (i.e., academic): Is the writing style succinct and to the point (i.e., no rambling)?
• Other: ___________________________________________________

Content and Theory (pass/fail)

• For this section – the essential question is “Did you answer the questions correctly?”
• Is it apparent that careful thought has gone into the preparation of the answers?
• Are the underlying Psychological theories discussed and analyzed?
• Are the hypotheses correct?
• Is there a discussion of the essential features of the research process?
• Are the theories and the research discussed with adequate depth?
• Are the results accurate? And are they discussed with adequate depth?
• Are the conclusions based upon the findings of the article?
• Is the paper an appropriate length? This has more to do with the quality of the content than a specific word count. Each paper should be two pages in length can be up to three pages.
• Other: ___________________________________________________

List of articles (Choose 2) :