Survey Research Project
Read everything before doing anything!
This is the second of the two research papers you will be writing in this
course. You may not work in groups on this paper; you must each do your
own work. The topic must be connected directly to some aspect of
psychology. The paper must contain all the parts of a research paper:
- Title Page
- This must be in APA style. Don’t use the words
“A Study of” or
“A Survey of” in the title.
- Abstract
- A very brief summary of the contents of your article. This
should be no more than 150 words (the APA style guide recommends
120).
- Introduction
- The introduction gives the background of the problem you are
investigating. This is where you
summarize previous research in the area. You must have
at least
two three references in your paper. Don’t go into
excessive detail about the references; as the APA guide says,
“Assume that the reader is knowledgeable about the field
for which you are writing and does not require a complete digest.”
(American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 28)
After the historical review, explain the purpose of your
survey, and give your main hypothesis.
- Method
- This paper:
http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/414.php gives an excellent model
for what your methods section should look like. Do not just copy it straight out;
modify it for your particular survey.
- Results
- Your results will be mostly in the form of graphs and tables. If a significance
test is appropriate, you may do one. In class we will discuss various methods of doing
significance tests on ordinal data, or I will provide references for you.
- Discussion
- Evaluate your results in light of your hypothesis or
hypotheses. Begin with a clear statement of the support or
rejetion of your original hypothesis. You may wish to compare
your results to previous results in the field.
- References
- You must have at least three references from peer-reviewed journals or
books. Your references must be in APA style. If you write
your references in MLA style, you will lose 40% from your score. Yes, I said
40%. No, I am not kidding.
You may not, under
any circumstances, use any paper by Milgram, Skinner, Zimbardo, Asch,
Festinger,
or Bandura as a reference, nor may they be the topic of your reference.
Process
- Topic Approval
- You must get the instructor’s approval for the topic of your
survey. Know what the title of your paper will be, what your
independent and dependent variables are, and how you intend to measure
the dependent variable. If you do not get approval, your score for the
paper will be zero.
- Creating the Survey
- Before the Peer Review, you must write the survey introduction, exit page, and
questions. The survey introduction gives information about the mechanics
of the survey (what will be asked, what the survey-taker is expected to do). It does
not tell the participant what you are attempting to study. The introduction
also gives privacy and contact information, and any risks and benefits of the study.
The exit page is the place to tell the participant the purpose of the survey. You may
give references to related studies, or to the field in general. Again, put contact
information on this page. Make sure you thank the participants for their time.
Here is an
example of what a survey introduction and exit page might look like.
Make sure your questions cover the topic you are assessing, and avoid the pitfalls discussed
in the book and in class. You may find the survey peer review form
useful in this regard. You will look at the other person’s questionnaire
on the pre-review date.
- Peer Review
- Another student will assess your paper
using this review form, and return the assessment
to me on the day of the review.
- Presentations / Final Version
- Presentations will start on 22 May 2012. Presentations must
a minimum of three minutes and a maximum of five minutes. Each presentation
will be followed by a maximum of five minutes of discussion. We will use
lab time during those class sessions if necessary. Your presentation
will be graded according to
this scale
(PDF version).
- Final Version of Paper
- The final version of the paper is due on 24 May 2012 and will be graded
according to this form.
Reference
American Psychological Association (2010). Publication Manual
of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.) Washington, DC: Author.
Here are two surveys from previous semesters.