This week you will submit a draft proposal which should include the following:
A brief discussion of the research question, which leads into the rationale for your hypothesis.
A concise statement of your hypothesis.
A precise description of your independent and dependent variables.
Any extraneous, confounding variables that you plan to control (e.g. order effects, or a stimulus sample bias).
A manipulation check, if needed.
The specific procedure for implementing your experiment, including
recruiting participants,
assigning participants to conditions,
instructing participants,
implementing your independent variable,
measuring your dependent variable
NOTES:
If you want to discuss how you would analyze your data, your welcome to include that, but it is not required until the final draft.
I’m not expecting you to have everything figured out, but I am expecting that you will make a good effort. If you see a potential problem with your experiment, make that clear. Laying out the issues will demonstrate that you’ve put thought into your proposal. This hands-on component of the course is supposed to challenge your problem solving skills. How you approach these problems is as important as whether you find solutions.
Because this is a draft, I will be focusing on ideas. Although I will not be grading your grammar and spelling, I will be grading how clearly you express your ideas. Page limit is 2 double-spaced pages max.
