Internal assessment

Experimental research

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Considerations in experimental research

What i s the ai m of the experiment? What studi es and theori es are considered in your research? How do you pl an to manipulate and measure vari ables? How wil l you select parti cipants? Can the effect of confounding vari ables be mi nimi zed? - for example: How wi l l you control for demand characteristics, order effects and partici pant vari ables? Which experimental design wil l you use? How wil l you deal wi th ethical issues? How wil l you anal yze the data you coll ect? How wil l you discuss your findi ngs? How wil l you report your experiment? How wil l you reference your sources?

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Internal assessment Report according to IB guidelines Maximum of 2000 words (HL) or 1500

words (SL) HL/SL: a simple experiment Ethical considerations (informed consent) Use past tense Use 3rd person

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Ethical considerations Non-human animals

must not be used No deception No harm done to

participants (physical or psychological)

Briefing Debriefing

Right to withdraw Confidentiality Informed consent Children: parental

consent

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Consent Form.

          I have been informed about the nature of the experiment

          I understand that I have the right to withdraw from the experiment at any time, and that any information/data about me will remain confidential

          My anonymity will be protected as my name will not be identifiable.

          The experiment will be conducted so that I will not be demeaned in any way.

          I will be debriefed at the end, and have the opportunity to find out the results.

 

I give my informed consent to participating in this experiment

 

NAME and date____________________________________________

 

Contact number_____________________________________________

 

 

 

Consent form

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Title page Information about the

student Name and number Subject and level Date of submission Word count

Title

Example of a title:

An experiment to investigate the effect of imagery or rehearsal on recall

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AbstractRight after the title page and before the table of

contents. It is a summary of important information about the study including:

The aim of the study Procedure Results of study ConclusionThe abstract should not exceed 200 words – and

is not included in the overall word count.

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Table of contents Table of contents follows the abstract. All pages must be numbered.

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Introduction: Background literature and justification of your own research

General introduction to the psychological subject area under investigation

Summary and analysis of key theories and previous research studies in the area including references, e.g. Stroop (1935)

Theories and studies must be analysed in sufficient detail – especially the replicated study

2 - 3 studies (HL) or 1 study (SL) Rationale and justification of your experiment The aim (HL/SL) and hypotheses (HL)

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Introduction (Coolican, 1994)

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Aim of study Topic under investigation (e.g. Memory) and expected results What you intended to find out in the study (e.g. to investigate whether using imagery

or rehearsal will result in higher recall of words) Aim introduces operationalised research hypothesis and null hypothesis (HL)

Ex: The aim of the study was to investigate whether imagery or rehearsal resulted in the highest mean recall of words from a word-list.

From the aim follow the experimental hypotheses (HL): H1: The use of imagery will result in higher mean recall of words recalled from a wordlist

compared to the use of rehearsalAlternative formulation of experimental hypothesis: H1 Participants in the imagery condition will recall more words from a wordlist than

participants in the rehearsal condition

H0: There will be no difference in recall between the two conditions or any difference between the two conditions will be due to chance.

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Research Hypotheses Clear and precise prediction of the

expected outcome of the manipulation of the IV on the DV.

Variables must be clearly operationalised (using concrete words or abstracts words)

A One-tailed hypothesis Null hypothesis: predicts that changes are

due to chance

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Examples

One-tailed: Participants given the office schema will recall a higher amount of office related objects than participants given no office schema.

Null hypothesis: There will be no difference in the two situations or Higher recall of office related words will be due to chance.

No Hypotheses in SL – only aim of study.

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Method consists of 4 sections

Design type and justification of design (repeated measures/independent design),

controls, ethical considerations, identification of variables (IV and DV)

Participants Relevant characteristics of sample, target population, sampling techniques

(justified)

Apparatus/Materials list of materials used, reference to copies in appendices

Procedure Must be written in so much detail that it can be replicated. Reference to

appendices for a copy of the material used.

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Designs – consider strengths and limitations in each design Design must be justified (relate to why you choose a specific design and

refer to strengths) Independent design: each participant participates in only

one condition (random allocation of participants to conditions e.g. drawing names out of a hat decides who goes in which condition) Larger sample needed so more time consuming No order effect but problem with participant variables. This is controlled for by

random allocation of participants to the experimental conditions. Repeated measures design: each participant participates

in both conditions Easier to get a smaller sample Order effects but counter-balancing possible No participant variables

Account of controls in the experiment (what you did in order to control for confounding variables)

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IV and DV

Must be operationalised and clear Must reflect aim and experimental hypothesis Stated at the end of the design section The IV in this experiment was whether

participants used rehearsal or imagery The DV was amount of words correctly recalled

from the wordlist

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Selection of participants

20 participants in an IB experiment Justify your sampling method In principle good to have a represenative sample but nor really

possible in IA. Ask the following questions: What is the target population? (the population

you are interested in) What are relevant characteristics of your sample? your target population? Does your sample represent them?

In IB exp.: Opportunity sample: you take what is available because it is the most convenient and easiestEasy and not time consuming (strenght)Not a representative sample (weakness)

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Procedure

Clear description of what you did and in what order

Written in words (see samples) Must be so clear that it can be replicated by

another researcher Refer to materials used in the experiment (and

make a reference to an example of it in the appendices)

Use past tense, the third person and the passive voice: The participants were asked to .......

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Results

State your results in narrative and in the form of graphs, tables and statistical test

Interpretation of descriptive statistics (e.g. mean, standard deviation + graph and table)

Analysis using inferential statistics and justification for their use (HL only) – check which tests to use in decision chart. Specific tests related to design, level of measurement of data and the fact that you test a difference between two conditions.

Graphs/tables should have appropriate titles and legend. No raw data in result section (must be in the appendices)

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Discussion of results

Discussion and interpretation of statistics Comparison of own results to the background

literature and theoretical framework in the Introduction (only mention theories and studies that have been mentioned in the intro; don’t introduce new ones).

Identification of limitations of own methodology Suggestions for modification and further research

(link this to identified limitations) End with a conclusion (refer to aim or research

hypothesis)

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References

Includes al work cited within the report and must be in a standardised format

For example: Morrison, M. (1996) Psychology. Essays, practical & statistics. A guide for students. Singapore: Longman.

For example: Loftus, E.F. and Palmer, J.C. (1974) “Reconstruction of automobile destruction: An example of the Interaction between language and memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 13, 584-589.

Reference in report (footnote), e.g. Gross (2009), p. 6 Same in references (bibliography)Gross, R. (2009) Psychology. The

Science of Mind and Behaviour. 5th ed. London:Hodder Arnold

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Appendices

Supplementary information One copy of the materials(s) used Copy of standardized instructions and

debriefing notes Copy of informed consent paper (including

parental consent if participants are children) Raw data Calculation of statistics

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Check list

Use check list paper to see if your report lives up to the assessment criteria.

Check the assessment criteria also