Due Date/Time: 3:00pm (AWST), Friday May 13th, 2022

Marks: This assignment will be marked out of 100 and is worth 40% of your final grade for PSEM.

Topic Overview: In this assignment, you will be analysing and interpreting the results of research seeking to investigate whether using diagnostic labels to describe childhood mental health conditions impacts how these children are perceived. Additional background information is posted in the Assessments folder on Discussion Board.

We will analyse the data related to this research question in Weeks 9 and 10 of semester. In the online material for Week 9 of semester you will see that key elements of Research Report writing are described. For this assignment we will focus on the title page, abstract, research question and hypotheses, results and part of the discussion sections that are typically included in a research report.

Formatting Requirements: The body of your Partial Research Report should be no longer than FIVE pages (this does not include the title page, abstract, reference list, appendix, or figures), and presented according to the requirements of the APA (7th edition) Publication Manual (e.g., Times New Roman 12pt font, double line spacing).

Content requirements: Your decisions regarding the content of each section should be guided by the requirements outlined in the APA (7th edition) Publication Manual, relevant lecture material, and the relevant sections of your textbooks. However, in brief, your report should contain the following sections:

1. Title page (5 Marks): The APA Publication Manual provides recommendations for a good title, as well as strict formatting requirements for a title page. These recommendations should be followed.
2. Abstract (5 Marks): An abstract is a brief yet comprehensive summary of the entire research report. It should outline the topic under investigation, as well as key participant characteristics, methods, findings, and conclusions. It should be no longer than 120 words.
3. Research Question and Hypotheses (10 Marks): You are not required to provide a review of relevant literature, or to write a complete introduction section for this report – the focus of Assignment 2 is on your ability to correctly analyse and interpret data. However, a good

introduction will conclude with an overall Research Question and Hypothesis/es. You are required to present:

• A research question that captures the overall intention of the study
  1. One Hypothesis that can be tested using a between groups design with only two groups.
  • One Hypothesis that can be tested using a repeated measures design with three or more groups.

Note. These will be discussed in further detail in the Computer Labs in Weeks 9 and 10. It is strongly recommended that you attend these Computer Labs to give yourself the best chance at success.

• Method (20 Marks): This section describes the methods used to collect the data for hypothesis testing. It should be divided into four subsections: Design, Participants, Materials, Procedure.
  • The Design section outlines the basic research design, and clearly identifies your independent and dependent variables. This section is typically no longer than a few sentences. You may have to address the design for each hypothesis separately.
  • The Participants section describes the sampling method used in the study, as well as the size and demographic characteristics of the final sample. It should also specify the number of participants in each group or condition if applicable, and whether anyone dropped out of the survey or was excluded from the final sample (along with reasons, if known). For this assessment, you will also be required to report the results of two separate a priori power analyses using G*Power to identify the minimum number of participants required for the analysis for Hypothesis One and then for Hypothesis Two. Both analyses can be reported using the conventional alpha level of

.05, power level of .80, and a medium effect size. Note. remember that you are conducting an a priori analysis and not a retrospective sensitivity power analysis!

• The Materials section should describe the measures and/or tasks that participants were asked to complete, and the procedures used to collect data. If you have run any ‘manipulation checks’, they typically get reported here rather than in Results. In many journal articles you will find that the researchers discuss the reliability and validity of their measuring instruments. As we have not covered these topics yet, you are not expected to address them in your research report.
  • Finally, the Procedure section should present a description of whether the study had ethics approval, how data collection was carried out and should provide enough detail to permit replication. Essentially, this section should walk the reader through the study from the perspective of the participant. What were participants required to do, and in what order? How long did this procedure take? There is no need to repeat information

already provided in the Materials section here, and consequently this section is usually no longer than a short paragraph.

• Results (30 Marks): As you are testing two separate Hypotheses, it is anticipated that you will have two ‘sub-sections’ in your results section – one for each Hypothesis test. This is fine to do and could be signalled using well-structured paragraphs, or correctly formatted APA style headings.
  • The Results section should contain descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, etc.) for each of the variables in your research hypotheses (by group or condition where applicable), an account of the statistical tests used to test your hypothesis, and a summary of the outcomes of those tests.
  • To facilitate interpretation, you should also include effect sizes and confidence intervals where appropriate. Although assumption testing is not usually reported in published research reports, it should be reported in this assignment.
  • To further enhance your research-writing competencies, you will be required to make use of Tables and Figures to showcase your results. Specifically, you will be required to include the following:
    • A Figure to illustrate the results of Hypothesis One. Think carefully about the data you want to present in this figure, and how to display it clearly and honestly. Also note that the APA Publication Manual has many requirements for the preparation of figures. You can use Excel (or any other spreadsheet program) if you prefer but must make sure you adhere to APA style of presentation. Generating your figures in SPSS is not a requirement. ii.                       A Table that summarises the pairwise comparisons between outcome variables for Hypothesis Two. This table should only include relevant information (mean

differences, statistical significance, 95% CI’s) and not repeat information unnecessarily.

iii. The Figure and Table will be worth 5 marks each.

Please note that is not acceptable to copy one of the example results write-ups from your textbook or lecture slides, and then drop your own variables and numbers into it. You should be using these examples to work out what you need to be saying, but then putting them aside before you start writing. There are lots of different ways that you can write up the results of common statistical tests, and simply inserting your own variables and numbers into textbook examples is a form of plagiarism.

Finally, although you will no doubt discuss your data analysis process and results with colleagues, you MUST run your analyses and then write them up INDEPENDENTLY. It is completely unacceptable to run the analyses with another student (i.e., the two of you sat at one computer, sharing responsibility for mouse-clicks etc.), or write up your results together, and then copy everything into your individual assignments. In fact, this is collusion, and will be identified by Turnitin. At Curtin, the consequences for collusion and other forms of academic misconduct are severe.

• Partial Discussion Section (10 marks): As you are not writing a complete Research Report, you are not expected to write a complete discussion. Therefore, interpreting your findings in the context of previous literature is not necessary. However, there are some key elements to any good discussion that I would like you to address in this assignment. Remember that good discussion sections are typically free from complex statistical jargon. For this assignment you must include:
  • A clear statement summarising the aims of the present research project.
  • Clear statements demonstrating whether Hypothesis One and Hypothesis Two were supported (or not supported).
  • List one limitation in the present study due to the present research design and provide one recommendation for how this issue could be overcome in future research designs.
• Appendix (5 Marks): As an Appendix, please include the tables of SPSS output that you consulted to determine whether each of your hypotheses was supported (i.e., the tables which show whether your hypothesis tests were ‘significant’ or not). These tables do not need to be formatted in the APA style. You can simply cut-and-paste them directly from SPSS. Note that we do not need (nor want to see) tables of descriptive statistics, or any of the material that you consulted to test your assumptions in your Appendix. Only provide the tables that you used to determine whether your hypotheses were supported. Finally, I will reiterate that these tables MUST be tables that YOU have been responsible for creating. Do not be tempted to share your SPSS output with others.
• Professional Writing Style, APA style and formatting (10 Marks): As noted above, your research report should conform strictly to the formatting requirements documented in the 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual. This includes (but is not necessarily limited to) the formatting of your page headers, section headings, text, numbers and statistical notation. Similarly your writing style and general presentation should fit that of a research manuscript submitted for publication. Note that the APA’s publication manual should be considered the definitive source for all APA style matters, and if you use an APA style guide from another source, you do so at your own risk. There are plenty of copies of the publication manual in the library. Please also note that your writing should be professional and free from grammatical and syntax errors.
• Reference List (5 marks): As previously mentioned, you are not required to be abreast of existing literature for this Assignment. However, I have identified at least three instances whereby a source may need to be referenced in-text and in a reference list:
  • The software you used to perform your power analysis.
  • The software you used to analyse your data.
  • The text that provides the effect-size conventions you use to interpret your practical significance.

• OPTIONAL: If you take inspiration from other studies when making recommendations for future research you will be expected to cite this literature accordingly..

Academic Misconduct: Curtin University regard plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct as extremely serious offences. As future professionals, it is indefensible to present the work (either words or ideas) of others, either knowingly or “accidentally”, as though it is your own. Please ensure that you know what constitutes plagiarism and how it can be avoided (i.e., through proper referencing). More information about academic integrity and plagiarism can be found here: http://academicintegrity.curtin.edu.au/.

Assignment Submission: This assignment will be marked and returned to you electronically via Turnitin GradeMark. You will find the submission point in the ‘Assessments’ section of the Blackboard site for this unit. Note that you can submit as many drafts as you want (and will receive an originality report for each, although the second and subsequent will be delayed for 24 hours after production of the first), but the copy of the assignment that is in the system at 3:00pm on Friday the 13th of May 2022 will be considered ‘final’ and cannot be overwritten (unless an extension has been granted). It is not necessary to include an ‘Assignment Cover Sheet’ with your submission, as you will be required to declare that it is your own work as a part of the submission process.

Extensions, late penalties, academic integrity etc: Please refer to your unit outline.

Asking questions: We are very happy to answer questions about this assignment. However, in the interests of fairness, we request that these questions be asked on the Blackboard discussion board, rather than by email or telephone. This ensures that all PSEM students have access to the same information when working on their assignments.

PSEM Partial Research Report Assignment General Expectations

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