Experimental Psychology PSY 433

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Experimental PsychologyPSY 433

• Project Information

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Selecting a Topic

• Sources of ideas include
• Past or present courses
• Current events important in your life
• Replications of classic research
• Extensions of existing research
• Paradoxes (contradictions, controversies)
• Introspection on your own thoughts, feelings
  behavior
• The Discussion sections of articles frequently
  provide ideas and topics for further research.

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Criteria for a Good Project

• Narrow your focus to a very specific question.
• Is there a theory that might explain it good
  research is motivated by theory.
• Theories are found in the literature reading is
  required before you can find your topic!
• Can the theory be tested what kind of
  experiment would test it?
• Is it practical to accomplish within 5-6 weeks?
• Are the needed resources available?

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Requirements for the Project

• Must have two IVs
• One IV must be something you manipulate.
• The other can be a demographic variable (such as
  sex, age, ethnicity, religion, etc.)
• Try to recruit at least 20-30 subjects per
  condition this will be affected by
  availability.
• Every study must provide an informed consent
  form.
• All members of the group must do CITI.
• Everyone in the group must participate.

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Resources

• Building 5 classrooms equipped with computers,
  projectors, AV and desks.
• Meeting rooms (5-114, 5-118b).
• Library quiet study rooms.
• Digital videorecorders.
• Laptop computers (20) equipped with Superlab and
  MS-Office software.
• Old and slow but do have WiFi
• Rooms on the wider campus (see me).

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Difficult Topics

• We cannot recruit or test children because it
  takes too long to get parental permission.
• Studies involving prisoners or mentally ill
  people are similarly difficult.
• Studies asking invasive questions about sex,
  drug/alcohol use or criminal behavior require
  complicated confidentiality protections.
• We can study attitudes about such behaviors or
  attitudes about parenting or children, as long as
  normal adult subjects are used.

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Forbidden Topics

• Mozart Effect no studies testing whether
  listening to any type of music improves cognitive
  ability or test performance.
• No studies of whether noise is distracting.
• No memory studies testing whether the color of
  type affects retention, etc.
• Memory studies must test some aspect of current
  memory theory, not simply what is easy or hard to
  remember.
• No Stroop effect replications.