Advanced Research Assignments

Your final exam is comprised of 3 sections:

Research paper (100 points)
Slide deck (100 points)
Oral presentation (100 points)
Your oral presentation can be incorporated with your slide deck via a voice-over or video presentation. Please view the APA Communication Guidelines lecture for specifics.

If uploading to Canvas, please note there are two separate upload submissions: paper and presentation. Or, you can upload both to this assignment.

As the lecture describes, the limitations section is generally about three to four paragraphs that reiterate the parameters of your research. As many of you are conducting compilation meta-analysis types of research, you might address the lack of research on brain development due to nutritional deficits in early childhood, the lack of authority or parental figures in formative years, or the stress of living in violent neighborhoods as limitations.

The discussion is like an inverted pyramid--it starts out more general and leads the reader to your point. This is a conclusion to your research study and the objective is to make the reader understand that what you and other researchers are doing is valuable to science and society. It quickly reiterates the objective of your research, its current implications, and what the next steps should be in terms of investigation.

I'm looking at maybe three pages, double-spaced. If you can do it in two pages, that would be even better.

If appropriate, create a data visualization for your results section. You can do this in Minitab or Excel. If you do not have data to analyze, then just move on to writing up your results.

The results section is the shortest section of your paper. It is typically one to two pages in length, double-spaced and literally states whether your hypothesis was correct. If your project does not have a hypothesis, then it simply states your conclusions. Based on all the evidence, which you briefly summarize, what do you conclude? There is an entire section titled Limitations and Discussion so save the additional musings for that section.

I'm giving us a lot of time for this assignment because I am expecting issues with downloading Minitab and connecting the license files. I originally had correlation and t-test broken out into separate assignments, but I don't think it was worth having a lot of small assignments. Once you get Minitab working, it should take you all of 30 minutes to run the tests.

If you are unable to upload your Methods and Materials Section in Canvas, please upload it here.

If you are having issues uploading your lit review in Canvas, upload it here.

Drop your Excel Practicum here if you can't get into Canvas.

Since all of you will be taking the SAT or PSAT in the next six weeks, I thought this exercise was appropriate. You are going to calculate some reliability statistics by taking some practice SAT exams. I originally planned for this to be due on the 18th, but I want to give you a couple of week-ends to complete it. Overall, this assignment will take about 14 hours spread out over four to five days and you will need two four-hour blocks of time to take the tests under "testing conditions." I know you're thrilled. I can feel the excitement. I'm attaching the practicum instructions with an example of how I want the assignment configured and some practice tests. Please e-mail me if you have any questions.

Attached is the Critical Research Review assignment which details how points are distributed, and an example.

As part of the literature review you will write for your research project, you will need 15 peer-reviewed articles. You can find peer-reviewed articles in academic journals. Peer-reviewed journal articles have been sent out to experts in the field of inquiry who review the experiment for methodology, statistical analysis, and communication of the results. As I have mentioned before, you literature review sets the context for your research project--what has been done in the past, why is it a concern now or current relevance, and what is the potential future impact. The other aspect peer-reviewed literature will help you with is operationalizing your variables. Use definitions that are defined by and widely used by the experts.

Set-up this assignment as your Reference page in APA style. For now, I just need your references. Use the attached hand-out as a guide for constructing your references. I am also attaching an example of a paper written in APA style. Please refer to the references at the end of the paper. This is how I would like your 15 resources to be constructed and submitted.

Also, you can use the formatting in Word (References) or an application like Easy Bib, but be careful because if you copy and paste, those programs will only put the elements of the reference in the correct order. They will not change upper case to lower case, etc.

Tell you me what your project will be, why it is important, and how you will collect data.

After you have watched the documentary, "Eye of the Storm," and read the article on how Germany plans to study the transmission of the corona virus, post a Flipgrid video telling me what you think the ethical issues are, if any. Start with the documentary. You have 3 minutes.

Attached are key terms from Chapters 1 and 2. As I mentioned this morning, you can complete this assignment any way you see fit. The point is to understand these terms so we have a common language and understanding for talking about research. There will be an assessment due on Friday, August 14. I will post the assessment on Wednesday, August 12. You may work on it individually, with another classmate, or in groups.

Attached are key terms from Chapters 1 and 2. As I mentioned this morning, you can complete this assignment any way you see fit. The point is to understand these terms so we have a common language and understanding for talking about research. There will be an assessment due on Friday, August 14. I will post the assessment on Wednesday, August 12. You may work on it individually, with another classmate, or in groups.

Watch everyone's videos and be prepared to discuss to merits and issues of each topic tomorrow.

Create a 60-second video pitching three potential ideas for investigation this year. As the goal of this class is to develop and conduct research for a professional audience, your research project must include data collection. This data can be quantitative or qualitative (narrative). As you pitch your idea, include how you propose to collect data. I will compile your responses in a mixtape and we will discuss the idea you think is the most viable on Friday, the 14th.

This is your first graded assignment. Introduce yourself in 30 to 60 seconds. Tell us your name, what you expect to learn in this class, what you like to do for fun, and share something that makes you smile. And, just for my amusement, try adding a sticker or selfie. Click on the link below. If It asks you for a Flip Code, it is 3f6722.