118PY: Research and Professional Development Lecture 13: Report Writing and Research Rationales

Announcements
Workshop this week: Figures and plagiarism Next week (w/c 21st of November 2011)
Wednesday Lecture (GEG31) Friday Lecture (CSG2) Workshop
SPSS class test t-tests (open book) Mandatory but does not form the basis of your end of year mark

Assignment 1 (humour and psychology) due Monday 21st of November 2011

Turnitin by 11:59pm (latest) email Andy Johnson at that time (attaching your assignment) if there are problems with the Moodle/Turnitin

Key Terms From Last Lecture

Exploring/summarising data Table Figure Frequency histograms Stem and leaf display/plots Box plots/Box and whisker plots Outlier

Bar chart Line chart/ interaction line chart

Report Writing and Research Rationale: Contents

The eel and the anus Revision of key concepts acquired this term Coursework check
General pointers Structure Content Referencing

A Cautionary Scientific Tale

Lo, S.F., Wong, S.H., Leung L.S., Law, I.C., and Yip, A.W.C. (2004). Traumatic rectal perforation by eel. Surgery, 135(1), 110-111. CASE REPORT - A 50-year-old man was seen at the Accident and Emergency Department because of abdominal pain. Physical examination revealed peritonitis. A shadow of an eel was noticed on the abdominal radiograph. On further questioning, the patient admitted an eel was inserted into the rectum in an attempt to relieve constipation. Emergency laparotomy found a 50 cm-long eel biting the splenic flexure of the colon, and a 3-cm perforation was found over the anterior wall of the rectum. The rectum was divided at the site of perforation, and the proximal end was brought out as colostomy. The postoperative course was uneventful. The patient was discharged home on day 7.

 Here it is
The eel is 50cm (i.e. more than a quarter of my height)

The Scientific Method

(1) Identify the problem and highlight a hypothetical suggestion

NEED A RATIONALE
Based on the patient self-report, we have a rationale to examine the following proposition... Does insertion of an eel alleviate the symptoms of constipation? Null hypothesis (H0): ??? Experimental hypothesis (H1): ???

The Scientific Method

Does insertion of an eel alleviate the symptoms of constipation? We begin with the null hypothesis If there is sufficient statistical support we may reject our null hypothesis and adopt our alternative/experimental hypothesis

The Scientific Method

(2) Design the study Two groups both with an equivalent level of constipation (controlled) One group inserts eel, one groups does not
Design = between-participants

Measure effect on constipation

Independent variable (IV) = eel (yes or no) Dependent variable (DV) = level of constipation

The Scientific Method

(2) Design the study What are the disadvantages of such a design? What design could we have instead?
Limitations of this? Within-participants but order effects

The Scientific Method

(2) Design the study Type of study?
Quasi experimental or experimental?

What do we need for an experimental design?

Control over IV Random allocation to IV levels

The Scientific Method

(3) Conduct study

We will cover ethics in another session; but suffice to say, this is not acceptable conduct Good luck getting participants!
HYPOTHETICAL EXAMPLE!

The Scientific Method

(4) Evaluate the study by analysing data from the study Compare constipation scores between 2 groups 100 Descriptives
90 Mean Constipation (%) 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10

Labels of x and y axis

Gap between bars

Axis starts at 0 not misleading

Appropriate title
Eel No Eel

HYPOTHETICAL EXAMPLE!

Figure 1: Mean constipation scores for the eel and no eel groups

The Scientific Method

(4) Evaluate the study by analysing data from the study Compare constipation scores between 2 groups Descriptives Table 1: Mean constipation scores and standard
Appropriate title deviations for the eel and no eel groups

Eel group Mean Standard deviation

57.32 12.85

No eel group
89.45 15.39

Groups clearly labelled

HYPOTHETICAL EXAMPLE!

The Scientific Method

(4) Evaluate the study by analysing data from the study Compare constipation scores between 2 groups Parametric tests
Assumptions:
Independence Ratio/interval Normal distribution Homogeneity of variance

What type of test would be appropriate?

Unrelated t-test

The Scientific Method

(4) Evaluate the study by analysing data from the study Compare constipation scores between 2 groups T-test results
An unrelated t-test was conducted and found significantly higher levels of constipation in the eel group compared to the no eel group, t(37)=6.74, p<0.05.

The Scientific Method

(4) Evaluate the study by analysing data from the study Compare constipation scores between 2 groups Purpose of t-test is to assess the number of standard errors our score is from the null hypothesis that there is no difference (this is t)
We use standard deviation to estimate the standard error We then divided the obtained difference by the estimate of the standard error = t

Once we have t and the df we can assess the probability of getting that value by chance (t distribution Gosset)

The Scientific Method

(4) Evaluate the study by analysing data from the study Compare constipation scores between 2 groups
Using a non-directional (2-tailed) approach
Looks extreme difference but outside the 5% critical area; therefore, cannot reject the null hypothesis Falls within 5%, therefore significant Falls outside 5%, therefore nonsignificant

But if we have a critical area at both tails each area can only be 2.5% (to equal 5% in total) this score then ceases to be significant

The Scientific Method

(5) Communicate the results Right up an account of your experiment (to be discussed) Why bother?
Can inform people of your findings increase knowledge/people may be able to benefit from your findings If people do not believe your findings, they can follow your reported methodology and see if they can replicate your findings

The Scientific Method

(5) Communication/interpretation of the results Another variable.
What if eel group has a significant reduction The role of slime This is called a.. Confounding variable

Insertion of a live animal into the rectum causing rectal perforation has never been reported. This may be related to a bizarre healthcare belief, inadvertent sexual behaviour, or criminal assault. However, the true reason may never be known. (Lo et al., 2004, p. 111)

Humour and Psychology Practical

Due 21st November 2011 General Points of Advice
Avoid informal language Avoid abbreviations Avoid unsubstantiated comments (cite) Keep language concise and scientific Follow the prescribed structure Check it over

Humour and Psychology Practical

Due 21st November 2011 General Points of Advice
The Golden Thread you are telling a story and there should be common link association between all things you are writing and your study aim Signpost these links to the reader otherwise some things may look out of context

Humour and Psychology Practical

Title You need to devise your own title
Should contain, in some respect, the IV and the DV Keep it concise avoid unnecessary wording Do not try and make it funny/quirky etc

Humour and Psychology Practical

Introduction The inverted triangle
A brief introduction to the notion of expectancy (can be from a different area of psychology) A brief introduction on humour (factors that influence it) Wimer and Beins (2008): how they used expectancy to investigate the effects on humour, what they found Rationale (do not jump from description of studies to what you predict) for your study (why are you doing this can be linked to summary of what you read) Briefly what you are going to do Prediction plus justification for such

Humour and Psychology Practical

Method Design
IV, DV, type of design, and any controls

Participants
How many, how many male/female, mean age, who were they, and recruited from where

Materials
Key materials used - describe in some detail and do not rely uniquely on an appendix

Procedure
Chronological account of your study

Humour and Psychology Practical

Results (1) Descriptives (table or graph) means and standard deviations
Ensure that all tables and figures are labelled appropriately Include an additional line describing pattern of means and SDs

(2)Inferential statistics (t-test)

Sentence describing the type of test, the groups/conditions under comparison, the direction of any effects, and then the stats, e.g. t(8)=9.47, p<0.05

Humour and Psychology Practical

Results Keep concise Avoid making any evaluative judgments An objective reporting of the results Do not refer to hypothesis or what it means It will not be many words so do not worry if it is short

Humour and Psychology Practical

Discussion (1) Briefly summarise the results (without the stats) (2) How do the results relate to previous studies mentioned in the introduction (consistent or inconsistent with them?) (3) How might we explain the findings? What is the theory/mechanism (relate back to the introduction and any explanations in Wimer and Beins. 2008) (4) Any limitations to the study which may invoke an alternative explanation how could these be overcome in future, i.e. Suggest methodological improvements (5) Practical application (6) Future research ideas where next....

Humour and Psychology Practical

Referencing in the text Citing in the text: Wimer and Beins (2008) investigated...
Consistently cite if any ambiguity about who you are talking about in a passage cite them again

If three or more authors: for the first citation you must write Martin, Carlson and Buskist (2007:35) argued that... and then after that you can refer to them as... Martin et al. (2007:23) argued... Quotes: e.g. Hills (2007:34) stated that the effect was transient and difficult to replicate.

Humour and Psychology Practical

Referencing in the text Primary source you read the study that you are citing (e.g. Wimer and Beins, 2008) Secondary sources if you read about a study/argument/theory in another text Smith (2004, cited in Martin, Carlson and Buskist, 2007) argued that....

Humour and Psychology Practical

The Reference Section Alphabetical order Books: Martin, G.N., Carlson, N.R., and Buskist, W. (2007). Psychology. Harlow, Pearson Education Limited, pages 304-312 Journal articles: Wimer, D.J. and Beins, B.C. (2008). Expectations and Perceived Humour. Humour, 21(3), 347-363.

Reading
Chapter 24: Planning your practical and writing your report [Coolican, H. (2009). Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology (5th Edition). London: Hodder and Stoughton]