Purpose

This assignment gives you a chance to demonstrate what you have learned in Module 1. By completing this assignment, you will be meeting the following course goals: Apply ideas about human development using relevant & appropriate concepts from psychology; and employ scientific thinking skills. As you complete this assessment, keep those goals in mind and make sure your work reflects them as they are what I will consider as I grade your submissions.

Instructions

Think about how developmental psychology as a science can help us answer interesting questions or test the accuracy of ideas we have about human development. Use what you learned about developmental theories and research methods to develop a way to test a question or idea you have. [You may use the idea you tested out in 

last week’s discussion

 or you may submit an entirely different one.] Your final research idea can be uploaded as a paper (preferably as a Word doc or PDF) or a video or audio file of you explaining your proposed study – or another creative form of communicating your idea (e.g., a comic strip depicting the research process for your study). Either way, what you submit should address ALL the bolded items below. 

1. Research Question & Theory – Identify a question or idea you have about human development at any point in the lifespan. Pick something that interests you or that you have always wondered about. You could even base your question on a news article, a pseudo-scientific claim, or a common myth about development. Explain why you are interested in this idea. Why would it be important or valuable to know more about this topic? Summarize what you already know about it & from where your knowledge comes. What theoretical perspective could further inform your thinking about this topic? State how.

2. Hypothesis & Study Design – Describe how a developmental psychologist might use science to deal with the issue. Specifically, use the first 2 steps in the scientific method (according to 

lecture slides

) to design a scientific study to address your research question. State a testable hypothesis and describe how you would gather your data using the methods of data collection, general research designs, and developmental study designs covered in Chapter 1. For these 3 elements of your study, be sure to explicitly name which type you would be using.