students will be guided through essential skills in understanding, reading, and writing formal scientific research reports. Assessment 2 (Research Comprehension Task) and Assessment 4 (Guided Research...

students will be guided through essential skills in understanding, reading, and writing formal scientific research reports. Assessment 2 (Research Comprehension Task) and Assessment 4 (Guided Research Proposal) are complementary, such that completion of Assessment 2 will provide important feedback for students to use in completion of Assessment 4. The purpose of Assessment 2 is to prepare students to be able to complete Assessment 4, by checking understanding of the basic structure of a psychological research article, as well as the ability to locate, understand, and describe important aspects of a psychological research article including theory, study aims and hypotheses, method, results, and conclusions. In Assessment 4, students should use the feedback they received from Assessment 2 to help formulate their response.

Assessment 4: Guided Research Proposalrequires students touse the SAME research article they used for Assessment 2. Students will first identify a suggestion for follow-up research given by the authors of the article they have chosen. Then, students will conduct a basic search of the literature to identify relevant research articles that will help them to formulate a proposal for such a follow-up research project. Using the prompts provided as a guide, students should then write a brief introduction and method section, in which a new study is proposed building on the research outlined in the article chosen.

As this is likely the first time students have encountered such a style of assessment, Assessment 4 is guided, with students asked to respond to a series of questions. The goal here is to develop fundamental skills that will enable students to prepare and produce research reports and proposal documents in level 200 psychology units and above within their degree.

Specific information about this assessment

• You should use the SAME article you utilised for Assessment 2 and use both your responses and the feedback provided to guide your Assessment 4 research proposal.


• For Assessment 4, you will be proposing a research project that could, in theory, be conducted. You are not required to conduct any research yourself. However, the research proposed should be realistic and conform to expectations of ethical and cultural guidelines as discussed in the unit.


• You should complete Assessment 4 on the response template provided. The word count corresponds to your responses only for the sections outlined below, and doesnotinclude the abstract, references, or the prompts/questions provided on the template.

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  The sections you are required to write include:
  

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  • Title Page (including a title specific to the project)
  
  
  • Abstract (100-word summary of the other written sections)
  
  
  • Introduction (including background, aim, and research question)
  
  
  • Proposed method (including proposed participant population, materials required, and proposed procedure)
  
  
  • Statement of implications of the research (including ethical and cultural considerations)
  
  
  • Reference List
  
  
  
  




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  • The template provided will include prompts or guides within each of the above sections to which you should respond. The word limit of 800 words is strict and markers will stop reading once this limit has been exceeded. Thus, it is in your interests to write concisely, and answer questions/prompts directly without becoming side-tracked by unnecessary information or straying into colloquial explanations not based directly on the scientific literature.
  
  
  • The Week 3 and Week 4 tutorials will be dedicated to understanding the writing of scientific research papers in psychology and learning how to write the research report components so it is important that you attend these tutorials and complete the relevant pre-tutorial and tutorial activities.
  
  
  • It is crucial that you complete Assessment 2 as this will provide important feedback on whether the correct understanding has been obtained and any errors in understanding or approach that can be corrected before submitting Assessment 4.
  
  
  • The assessment will be marked according to the marking criteria provided in the unit outline.
  
  
  • It is expected that you will format and reference according to the American Psychological Association (APA) Manual- 7th edition.
  
  
  • It is also expected that you will adopt a formal academic writing style, consistent with that outlined in the APA Manual 7thedition and practiced within weekly tutorial tasks.
  
  
  
  

You will need to submit your word document electronically (via Turnitin). To submit electronically you need to go to the Moodle site for this course and submit the complete document to the Turnitin link titled "Submit Assessment 4". It is your responsibility to ensure you have uploaded the correct document and formally submitted by the due date. You should retain evidence of submission that is emailed to you directly in case of any concerns.