Building Thoughtful Research for an Original Study

Research Methods and Design: Below you will find six questions. Use these questions to provide brief description of a psychology-focused study you would enjoy designing if you had the time and resources.

1. Observe and ask: What psychological issue/concept/phenomenon are you interested in studying?
2. Look for information: What does the empirical literature have to say on your topic of interest? Briefly describe, in four sentences or more, one empirical study pertaining to your topic. (cite and reference)
3. Hypothesis: What is your testable hypothesis? Present operational definitions for your independent and dependent variables.
4. Research Design: Provide a rough look at the inner workings of your research design.
   • Participants: How many participants do you think you will need to establish a representative sample of your target population? (Why this number?)
   • Who would you like to include in your sample? (Explain.)
   • Procedures: Share an idea for procedures you could follow to test your hypothesis.
   • What is one confounding variable you should plan for?
5. Ethics in Action: List two principles of ethics you must keep in mind while designing this study.
6. Class contributions to terminology: while preparing your answers to Items 1-5, what terms or concepts challenged you? Provide here one term, or concept, that felt rusty in its application. Provide a link to a resource that explains, or defines that term.