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Lab 10: Introduction Section—APA Paper #2

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Objectives for Lab 10:

• Review the background literature
• State the purpose and rationale of the current study
  • Define your variables
• State hypotheses

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Outline for Introduction Section

Read and complete this outline prior to starting the lab. You may write in fragments (words, phrases) or in complete sentences. Please note that thinking about paper construction and outlining your thoughts will aid in writing each section of your lab report, so take advantage of this process!

Background literature review

Article 1 (previous research) : Use the article by Sprecher, Brooks, and Avogo (2013) to influence the direction of your group difference hypothesis.

• Questions you should ask yourself:
  • What did Sprecher et al. (2013) find regarding gender differences in self-esteem?
  • Did men or women have higher self-esteem?
  • Based on their findings, which group do you hypothesize will have higher self-esteem in your study?
  • Start with “It was hypothesized that…”
  • Do not forget to mention BOTH of your groups.

Predicting a Group Difference:

• Find a question which splits your sample into two groups. (PREDICTOR) – two groups you think will differ on your SURVEY TOPIC (existing DV scale)
  • This can be a demographic question (e.g., gender)
  • This can be another demographic question (e.g., “I live with my parents” 1=no, 1=yes)
• Wording the hypothesis – in terms of the outcome and predictor
  • State the survey topic
  • State what exactly you expect (one group will have more of something)—not just that there will be a difference
  • State the comparison groups—don’t make empty comparisons by leaving the comparison out (this was a no-no in the writing guide)
    • Example: It was hypothesized that women will report more self-esteem than men.
    • Example: It was hypothesized that men will report more relationship satisfaction compared to women.

    Developing a Group Difference Hypothesis: State your Survey Topic variable (existing DV scale):State your Grouping variable: What are the groups?Group 1:Group 2:State your hypothesis (using guidelines listed above):NOTE: We are not looking at gender or self-esteem for this hypothesis, it needs to be either introversion/extraversion or LOC and life satisfaction

• Summarize the main features of the methodology from your first article

• Summarize the relevant findings from your first article (key word “relevant”-not all of them)

• Summarize the conclusions of these findings

• Article 2 (previous research) : Use the article Global Life Satisfaction in Adolescence by Marcionetti and Rossier to influence the direction of your correlational hypothesis.
• • Questions you should ask yourself:
    • What did the researchers find regarding the relationship between your IV variable and self-esteem?
    • As your IV variable increases/decreases what happens to self-esteem?
    • Start with “It was hypothesized that…”
    • Do not forget to mention your opinion question/variable

  Based on their findings, how will you construct your correlational hypothesis?Find one of the opinion survey questions that you wrote with a continuous scale (so that you will have some variance in the responses) that you think is related to your SURVEY TOPIC (existing DV scale)

  • E.g.: “I am in good health” 1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree
  • Correlation does not mean causation!
    • Do not ever use causal language when talking about non-experimental designs (e.g., survey research)
  • Wording the hypothesis
    • State the outcome variable (existing DV scale)
    • State what exactly you expect (positive correlation, negative correlation)—not just that there will be a relationship
    • Explain the correlation
      • Positive correlation:
        • Example: It was hypothesized that the good health will be positively correlated with life satisfaction; that is, when a participant reports their health as better, the more they will be satisfied with life.
      • Negative correlation:
        • Example: It was hypothesized that stress will be negatively correlated with life satisfaction; that is, the less stress a participant reports, the more they will be satisfied with life.

        NOTE: Were not examining self-esteem for this hypothesis, it needs to relate to academic stress and life satisfaction

  Developing a Correlation Hypothesis: State your Predictor variable (opinion survey question that you wrote): State your Survey Topic variable (existing DV scale):State your hypothesis (using guidelines listed above):

• Summarize the main features of the methodology from your second article.

• Summarize the relevant findings from your second article (key word “relevant”-not all of them)

• Summarize the conclusions of these findings

Current study (OUR SURVEY PROJECT)—What did we do and why? (briefly)

• Why did we do the current study? Why is it important to study this?
  • Is it a recognized problem? (or potential problem) OR Is there conflicting literature in the area? (leaves questions to be addressed)
• What was done in the current study?
  • What were the variables of interest? Identify the variables in the study without using the word “variables.”
    • E.g., “The current study was an examination of self-esteem in men and women.” Rather than, “the variables in this study were self-esteem and gender.”
  • What was the methodology (generally speaking)?

Hypotheses

• What do you expect to find and why did you expect to find this? (you did these in the previous lab…if they were done correctly, copy them below)
• • (Group difference) It was hypothesized…

• (Correlation) It was hypothesized…

Lab Report:

• Using your outline, review the prior research (both articles), explain what was done and why, and give your specific hypotheses (including rationale) by turning your fragments into whole sentences and full paragraphs (complete with transitions). The key here is to integrate both articles in such a way that your research question and hypotheses are logical questions to be studied. Note: If you are having problems or are feeling “stuck,” look at the introductions of other articles to see how those authors did this.
• Do not use a heading for the introduction section (but remember your name and TA name, refer back to General Lab Guidelines).
• Remember to cite references in the introduction carefully and correctly (WWS, pp. 11-12, 87-89, Purdue Owl).
• REFER BACK TO PLAGIARISM ACTIVITY (Purdue Owl) AND WRITING WITH STYLE GUIDE! These are resources to help you avoid plagiarizing the materials – use them wisely!
• Save often and check to make sure you have followed all of the formatting rules!

Rubric for Lab 10: Introduction Section, APA Paper #2

Pts poss.	Pts earned	Item
4		Literature review (both background articles), citations correct Methodology Findings Conclusions Citations correct
2		Current study (our survey research study) Method Variables Rationale
2		State hypotheses
2		Spell Check and Sense Check (proofread!)

Requirements: 1-2 pages