Research Project Methods Section – Guidelines, Requirements, and Grading Rubric

Overview:

The Methods section is all about detailing everything that was done in the study to a level which would allow for replication by an outside experimenter. The questions in each section are meant to direct you to exactly what information I expect to see in each section.

To complete this assignment successfully:

Answer all the questions

Use the appropriate level of headers from APA 6th style (you can find them here: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/24/)

Wherever exactly the same methods were used, it is appropriate to put “The same methods/procedures/materials were used as in Experiment 1”. The exact phrasing of this can vary, but the point is to refer the reader back to the Exp. 1 methods write-up. IF/WHERE anything has differed, you must make a note of that as well.

As always when writing, look over the included rubric to see how I plan to grade the assignment and how various requirements of the paper are weighted.

INCLUDE A REFERENCES PAGE!

METHODS

Experiment 1

Participants: ?? subjects (What school were they at? What class were they students in? What time of day did it take place?)

Materials:

Which lists were chosen? (Information to be given out in class)

How were the lists chosen?

Where were they chosen from?

(Hint: To answer all the above questions, re-read Experiment 1 from Roediger and McDermott (1995). DRM word lists are always titled by the Critical Lure (e.g. the ‘sleep’ list). Check Roediger and McDermott (1995) to find out how they came up with the lists for their Experiment 1, which we also used. )

Composition and Scoring of Measures:

In what form was the Recall test given to you?

How was the Recall test graded?

The recall tests will be scored for the following things:

Proportion of correctly remembered PRESENTED words

Proportion of critical lures recalled/intruded

Proportion of all other intrusions (any other words that were not presented and not the critical lure)

How was the Recognition test presented?

In what format did you take the Recognition test?

Was there a time limit?

What was the composition of the Recognition test?

What different types of words were on the Recognition test and how were they chosen to be there?

How was the Recognition test graded?

The recognition tests will be scored for the following things:

Proportion of scores in each category (1, 2, 3, 4) for PRESENTED words

Proportion of scores in each category (1, 2, 3, 4) for CRITICAL LURES

Proportion of scores in each category (1, 2, 3, 4) for Weakly Related List Words (non-presented)

Proportion of scores in each category (1, 2, 3, 4) for intrusions (random non-presented)

Procedures:

(Hint:) If you don’t remember our procedures, re-read Experiment 1 from Roediger and McDermott (1995)

Things you should include in order of how they happened:
How many lists were read aloud?

Who read the lists?

Time between each word being read aloud?

Time between lists for recall?

What happened when all lists were done being recalled?

How was the recognition test administered?

Experiment 2

Subjects: ?? subjects – Deliberately reference that these are the same subjects as Exp. 1

Materials:

Which lists were chosen? (Info to be given out in class)

How were the lists chosen? (See below)

Where were they chosen from?

In Experiment 2, the lists were chosen from Stadler, Roediger and McDermott (1999). They were all taken from the set of 18 lists demonstrated to have the highest rates of critical lure intrusion.

Composition and Scoring of Measures:

Instead of re-answering questions, state that the Measures were the same as in experiment 1

Procedures: Instead of re-answering questions, state that the Procedures were the same as in experiment 1

Grade Item	Points Possible	Points Earned
Format	Running head: METHODS (in page header)	.5
Last name, page number in header	.5
Correct use of APA Level/Sub-Level Headers	1
Experiment 1	Participants (three questions to answer)	2
Experimental Materials (answer 3 questions)	4
Composition/Scoring of Measures (answer 11 questions and include the information about the various scored items in each sub-question)	6
Procedures (answer 6 questions)	3
Experiment 2	Participants (denote same subjects as Exp. 1)	1
Experimental Materials (refer to list changes, cite Stadler, otherwise same as Exp. 1)	3
Composition/Scoring of Measures (refer to Exp. 1)	1
Procedures (Refer to Exp. 1)	1
References	References Page with correct APA formatting	2
25	/25