Everything needed is attached.

Checklist – Paper II: Study One Methods, Results, and Discussion

Use the check sheet below to make sure your paper is the best it can be! Make sure you answer

“Yes” to all questions before submitting your paper! The first two sections duplicate the Paper I

checklist, but those elements in purple are unique to you Methods / Results / Discussion Paper II

General Paper Format (This section is identical to the Paper I Checklist)

Yes No

1. Is everything in your paper (including headers, the main body of your mini-
literature review, and your references) in 12 point Times New Roman font?

2. Is everything in your paper double spaced, including references (here I mean
the spacing above and below each line, not the spaces following a period)?

3. Do you have one inch margins on all sides of the paper (one inch from the top
of the page, one inch from the bottom, and one inch from each side)

4. Are the first lines of all paragraphs indented another ½ inch (or 1 ½ inches
from the page edge)?

5. Are your paragraphs aligned left? (That is, text should be flush left, with lines
lining up on the left of the page, but text should NOT line up on the right side

of the page – it should look ragged)

6. Do you need help figuring out how to configure a word document in APA
format (inserting headers, page numbers, proper indents, etc.)? If YES or NO,

I highly recommend watching this video which walks you through setting up

an APA formatted paper! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pbUoNa5tyY

Title page (This section is nearly identical to the Paper I Checklist)

Yes No Header

1. Do you have the phrase “Running head” in your header (with a lower case h)?

2. Is the rest of your Running head title in ALL CAPS?

3. Is your Running head in 12 point Times New Roman font?

4. Do you have a page number that is flush right (also in 12 point Times New
Roman font)?

5. Is your header 50 characters or less (including spaces and punctuation)?

Title / Name / Institution

1. Is your title 12 words or less (as recommended by the APA)?

2. Does your title describe your general paper theme (while avoiding something
blank like “Paper Two: Methods Results, and Discussion”)? Note that your

header and title can differ!

3. Do all title words with three letters or more start with a capital letter?

4. Are your name and institution correct?

5. Are your title, name, and institution elements centered and in 12 point Times
New Roman font?

Methods Section (New Information in this section)

Yes No Header

1. Is your header title present and identical to your header title on the title page?

2. Is your header title in ALL CAPS and 12 point Times New Roman font?

3. Does your header on this second page omit the phrase “Running head”

4. Do you have a page number starting on page 2

Yes No Title for the methods section

1. Is the word “Methods” centered and in bold at the top of your methods page?

Participants

1. Do you have the word “Participants” flush left and in bold, right below the
word “Methods”?

2. Did you list out your demographic characteristics, including gender, age, and
ethnicity / race?

3. Did you provide the descriptive statistics for (means and standard deviations)
for age and italicize the letters M and SD?

4. Did you provide frequencies for gender and ethnicity/race and italicize the N?

5. Did you refer readers to Appendix for the full listing of demographic tables?

Materials and Procedure

1. Did you mention informed consent?

2. Did you discuss any instructions the participant may have read?

3. Did you thoroughly describe any stimulus material that might have occurred
before your actual independent variables (and photos, descriptions, profiles,

questions, puzzles, etc.) that are a part of your study?

4. Did you thoroughly describe your independent variable (IV) in enough depth
and detail that another researcher could recreate your materials?

5. Did you give your IV a name that matches up with the name you refer to in
the

results section?

6. Did you describe all of your most relevant dependent variables, noting the
scales you used (e.g. “Yes / No”, “A scale ranging from 1 (not at all likely) to

9 (very likely))” for EACH of your DVs?

7. Did you fully describe what participants went through in the study, noting the
order in which they received study materials (e.g. first informed consent, then

IVs, DVs, and debriefing)?

8. Did you fully describe your attention check (manipulation check) with enough
detail that a reader unfamiliar with your study could recreate it, and did you

include the scale for that attention check question?

9. Did you use the past tense when describing your methods (seeing how you
already collected the data, and therefore do not discuss what participants will

do)?

Results Section (New Information in this section)

Yes No

1. Do you have the word “Results” centered and in bold, immediately following
the methods section?

2. Was the first dependent variable you looked at your manipulation check
question, and did you make sure you analyzed the correct DV?

3. Did you analyze at least two different dependent variables for your other two
analyses?

a. Note: using a t-Test to analyze a question Like #3) and an ANOVA to
once again analyze question #3 does NOT count as two different DVs. It

is the same DV analyzed twice. Make sure to look at two different DVs

4. Did you mention both the IV and the DV by name when talking about your
analysis?

5. Did you include means and standard deviations within parentheses for each
level of your independent variable?

6. Did you italicize the letters F, t, p, M, SD, and X2 (where appropriate)?

7. Did you round ALL numbers to two decimal places (with the exception of the
p value, which can go as low as p < .001 or p = .001).

Discussion Section (New Information in this section)

Yes No

1. Do you have the word “Discussion” centered and in bold, immediately
following the results section?

2. Did you remind your reader of your hypothesis?

3. Did you mention whether you supported or did not support your hypothesis?

Appendix Section – Study One (New Information in this section)

Yes No

1. Do you have the word “Appendix” centered on each Appendix page,
followed by a description of the appendix content, immediately following the

results section?

2. In Appendix A (Demographics), do you have SPSS tables for gender,
ethnicity, and age? (Note: Age might be in a general “statistics” table, but you

should have specific frequency tables for both gender and ethnicity)

3. In Appendix B (Chi Square), do you have the crosstabs table (with
percentages) plus the chi square test (with Pearson)?

4. In Appendix C (ANOVA), do you have the descriptives table, the ANOVA
table, and the post hoc table for your first dependent variable?

5. In Appendix D (ANOVA or t-Test), do you have the descriptives table,
ANOVA (or t-Test) table, and post hoc table (for the ANOVA) for your

second dependent variable?

6. Do the analyses in Appendix C and D focus on DIFFERENT dependent
variables? (Make sure you answer YES on this one!)

Writing Quality

Yes No 1. Did you proofread your paper, go to the writing center, go to the research

methods help center, or use the Pearson writer to make sure your paper flows

well?

2. Did you use the past tense (which is recommended, since your papers in this

class will reflect work you already did rather than work you will do)?

3. Did you use a scientific / objective terms like “people”, “participants”. “users”,

“readers”, etc. (as opposed to subjective words like “you”, “we”, “me”, “I”, or

“us”, etc.)?

Running head: METHODS, RESULTS DISCUSSION INSTRUCTIONS 1

Instructions for Paper II: Study One Methods, Results, and Discussion (Worth 35 Points)

Ryan J. Winter

Florida International University

PAPER II: METHODS AND RESULTS INSTRUCTIONS 2

Purpose of Paper II: Study One Methods, Results, and Discussion

1). Psychological Purpose

The psychological purpose behind Paper II is to make sure you can tell your reader what

you did on your study, how you did it, and what you found. By now you have read several

empirical studies in psychology, and you should be familiar with the Methods, Results, and

Discussion sections. Now is your chance to write Methods, Results and Discussion!

Like those prior studies you looked at in Paper I, you will provide information about your

participants, materials, and procedure in your Methods section. Your participant section

goes first, and it includes descriptive statistics about your sample (means and standard

deviations for age as well as percentages for gender and race/ethnicity). Your materials and

procedure sections include information about what you did and how you did it. You should

write this section for an audience who is unfamiliar with your specific study, but assume

that they do know research methods. Thus educate your reader about your materials and

procedure, giving enough detail so they could replicate the study. This includes explicitly

describing your independent and dependent variables and talking about how you presented

those variables to your participants. My suggestion is to look over the articles you

summarized in Paper I and see how they wrote their Methods. This will give you a good

idea regarding the level of depth and detail you need in your own Methods section.

Your Results section follows. The purpose of this section is to make sure you can show

how you analyzed the data and describe what you found. You will have a lot of help in this

section from your lab instructors.

Finally, I want you to include a short description of your findings. Tell me if you supported

or did not support your hypotheses and explain why you got those results (you can actually

speculate here if you like, but make it an “educated” speculation!)

2). APA Formatting Purpose

The second purpose of Paper II: Methods, Results and Discussion is to once again teach

you proper American Psychological Association (APA) formatting for these sections. In

the pages below, I will tell you how to format your paper using APA style. There are a lot

of very specific requirements in APA papers (as specific as what to italicize), so pay

attention to the instructions below as well as Chapter 14 in your textbook!

3). Writing Purpose

Finally, this paper is intended to help you figure out how to write a Methods, Results, and

Discussion section. Many students find statistics daunting, but my hope here is that writing

this paper will help you understand both the logic and format of statistics in results

sections. We will once again give you a lot of feedback and help in this paper, which you

help you when you write Papers IV and V later in the course. Make sure that you write this

PAPER II: METHODS AND RESULTS INSTRUCTIONS 3

for an audience familiar with APA methods and results, but also for someone who needs

you to tell them what you found.

Note: The plagiarism limit is higher in this paper (up to 65%) since your classmates are doing the

same design. Don’t go higher than that, though! 65% is the maximum allowed!

Note: You do NOT need to include your literature review / hypotheses in Paper II, as Paper II

focuses just on your methods, results, and discussion. However, you’ll include those Paper I

components later in Paper III, so do keep them handy!

Sorry for the length of the instructions! They are long, but take it one section at a time and you will

get all of the content you need for your paper. It also increases your chances of getting a great

grade!

PAPER II: METHODS AND RESULTS INSTRUCTIONS 4

Methods

1. Title Page: I expect the following format (1 point):

a. The title page for your Paper II is identical to the one you used for Paper I:

Literature Review Study One. For proper APA formatting, either copy your title

page from Paper I or review the title page instructions I gave you in Paper I. You

can change your title if you like, but make sure it helps to describe your study

(much like a title in PsycInfo describes what the authors did in their paper)

2. Abstract?

a. You DO NOT need an abstract for Paper II: Methods, Results, and Discussion

(Study One). You cannot write it until you run both study one and two, so omit it

for now

3. Methods Section: I expect the following format (15 points):
a. For this paper, the methods section starts on page 2.
b. Write Method at the top of this page, make it bold, and center it (see the top of this

page as an example!)

c. The participants section comes next. The word Participants is bolded and left
justified. In this section …

i. Tell me who your participants were (college students, family members,
friends?) and how many there were.

1. Note: If a number starts a sentence, then spell out the number. That
is, “Two-hundred and five participants participated in this study.”

2. If a number is mid-sentence, you can use numerals. “There were 205
participants in this study.”

3. But keep numbers consistent. If you spell out a number at the start of
the sentence, carry that through and spell out other numbers in the

sentence.

4. For statistics, always use numbers (for the mean, SD, %, etc.)
ii. Provide frequencies and descriptive statistics for relevant demographics.

1. For some variables—like ethnicity and gender—you only need to
provide frequency information (the number of participants who fit

that category). “There were 100 men (49%) and 105 women (51%)

in the study.” Or “The sample was 49% male (N = 100) and 51%

female (N = 105).”

2. Other variables—like age—are continuous (rather than categorical),
so use descriptive statistics here (the range, mean, and the standard

deviation). “Participants ranged in age from 18 to 77 (M = 24, SD =

3.50).” or “The average age of participants was 24 (SD = 3.50).”

Your TA can help you find the mean and standard deviation for this

assignment, though information is also available in a lab powerpoint.

3. Make sure to italicize the N, M, and SD (the letters, not the numbers)
d. Materials and Procedure

i. For this section, things are flexible. Some studies include Materials and
Procedure in the same section while others break them up into two sections.

This is a matter of choice.

PAPER II: METHODS AND RESULTS INSTRUCTIONS 5

1. In general, the more complex the design, the better it is to split up
the methods and results. In one section, the author may describe the

materials; in the next, they describe what participants did with those

materials (the procedure). This is one option for you. However …

2. However, your “Paper II: Methods, Results and Discussion (Study
One)” is simple enough that I strongly recommend combining them

into one overall Materials and Procedure section.

ii. Again, the words Materials and Procedure are flush left. In this section …
1. Provide information about your materials and your procedure.

a. I suggest starting with your procedure. Tell your reader what
your participants did in the order that participants did them.

Be specific here. I have the following recommendations:

i. First, talk about the oral informed consent procedure.
ii. Second, talk about the three versions of the Facebook

Consensus study questionnaire. Provide enough detail

so that your readers know how the three conditions

differ. Imagine I do not know what you did, but I

need to able to replicate your design. YOU need to

give me enough detail so I can do so. (Hint: Copy and

paste the various questions or refer the reader to an

appendix that has those materials!)

1. I want to stress that – pretend I have no idea
what you did, but I want to repeat your design

and procedures. That means you need to be

VERY clear and detailed about what you did

and how you did it.

2. At the end of the semester (for Paper V),
someone other than your instructor / TA may

grade your paper. They may know NOTHING

about Consensus or Conformity, though they

do know methods. Thus go into painstaking

detail about what EACH section of the survey

page looked like, including the participant

instructions and the pictures

iii. Third, talk about your dependent variables (that is,
your survey questions. For these dependent variables,

once again provide enough detail so I know exactly

what questions you asked. For example, “Participants

provided their gender, age, and race”. For other

dependent variables, tell me how the responses were

recorded (yes/no, true/false, a scale of 1 to 6, etc.). If

you used a scale, note the endpoints. That is, does a 1

mean it is high or is it low? “Participants were asked,

‘How frustrating was this task?’, and they responded

on a scale from 1 (very frustrating) to 9 (not at all

frustrating).’” Your study has a few really important

DVs (including several DVs about participant

impressions of Abigail and her cheating behavior as

PAPER II: METHODS AND RESULTS INSTRUCTIONS 6

well as whether the participant agrees with the advice

of Abigail’s friends. For these DVs, you again need to

tell me what they are specifically!

iv. Fourth, make sure to highlight which specific DVs
you analyzed. If there are DVs participants completed

but you did not analyze it, feel free to say those that

participants completed them but since they were not

analyzed, they are not discussed further.

v. Fifth, make sure to be specific about your attention /
manipulation check question!

vi. Finally, mention debriefing
e. There is no set minimum or maximum on the length of the methods section, but I

would expect at least a page or two (though probably more. After all, your own

research script took up several pages – you should provide a similar level of depth

and detail in your methods section!). Missing important aspects of your IVs and

DVs or presenting them in a confused manner will lower your score in this section.

f. Remember, make sure that another researcher can replicate your study based on
your methods section. If they can’t, then you may not have enough detail!

4. Results Section: I expect the following format (10 points):
a. The results are the hardest part of this paper, and your lab powerpoints will help

you with this part of the paper (also refer to the crash course statistics quizzes,

which walk you through similar analyses!).

b. First, write Results at the top of this section, center it, and use boldface. This
section comes directly at the end of the methods section, so the results section

DOES NOT start on its own page.

c. For this assignment, include statistics about the most important variables in your
study, including your IV (Condition – Support, Oppose, and Mixed) and the DVs

you feel are most important to your hypotheses. There are several important DVs in

your survey, including all of those in Part II (regarding cheating) and the first three

DVs in Part III, especially Part III Question #3. All of these variables really focus

on your predictions. Note that some instructors may not do this Facebook

Consensus study at all, but the results section should follow the same guidelines

regardless of your study topic.

d. More specifically, you must run at least three different analyses on three
different dependent variables. One must be a chi square for the question asking

participants which to recall how well Pat did in his job interview (our manipulation

check, which looks at the three options for the nominal variable in Part V). One

analysis must be a One Way ANOVA (I recommend looking at any of the

statements in Part II). The third analysis should be a t-Test on Part III Question #3.

Why? Because the mixed condition makes this question tough for participants to

answer (the question asks if they would give the same advice as Abigail’s friends,

but because the mixed condition mixes oppositional and supportive comments, it is

tough to know what the “same advice” would involve. A t-Test just looking at the

two consensus groups is best here). Of course, you can run ANOVA’s or t-Tests on

virtually all of the Part II and Part III Questions, but you cannot look at the same

DV with both a t-Test and an ANOVA. We count the number of DVs that you

analyze – NOT the number of statistical tests you run!

PAPER II: METHODS AND RESULTS INSTRUCTIONS 7

i. Chi square: Your first analysis will be a chi square, which you use if your
DV is categorical (yes / no; yes / no / maybe; male / female, or … in our

case, we have our “Feedback” question in Part V (The feedback supported

Abigail’s behavior; opposed it; was mixed). So let’s discuss the chi square,

which doesn’t look at means but rather counts how many responses there are

compared to how many you would expect.

1. Consider the DV in Part V of your questionnaire – “Without looking
back, what general feedback did Abigail’s friends give her? (Mark

one with an X)” The options were supported, opposed, or mixed.

Here, you can run a chi square looking at the frequencies of the three

answer options

2. We are interested in the chi square (χ2) and p value. We also provide
percentages for each of our groups (rather than means and SD).

a. “Using Facebook consensus condition as our independent
variable (support, oppose, or mixed) and recall of the

feedback Abigail’s friends gave her as the dependent

variable, we saw a significant effect, χ2(4) = 68.49, p < .001.

Most participants in the “support” condition recalled

“supporting” feedback (98%); most participants in the

“oppose” condition recalled a “oppositional” feedback

(96%); and most participants in mixed condition recalled an

“mixed” feedback (90%). This indicates that participants saw

our manipulation as intended.”

b. Alternatively, you can just look at correct versus incorrect
responses. This is a bit trickier to run in SPSS, since you

need to add up ALL those who correctly remembered the

correct feedback (those in the support condition who recalled

“supportive feedback” + those in the oppose condition who

recalled “oppositional feedback” + those in the mixed

condition who recalled “mixed feedback”) and compare them

to ALL the people who were incorrect in their recall. In this

instance, you wouldn’t want the chi square to be significant.

That is, you might conclude that χ2(4) = 1.49, p > .05,

indicating that there was no difference between those who

got the manipulation check question correct across the three

different conditions. (In other words, participants weren’t

more correct in one condition compared to another). My

advice is to go with the chi square in a. above

c. Make sure to italicize the χ and p
ii. ANOVA: Since you have a condition independent variable with three levels

(e.g. Support, Oppose, or Mixed), the most appropriate test is a One-Way

ANOVA if your DV is scaled (like a 0 to 5 scale or a 1 to 6 scale). Your lab

and lecture powerpoints show you how to conduct an ANOVA, but there are

some guidelines I want to give you about how to write your results. Below, I

am going to walk you through one analysis specific to this paper. However,

keep in mind that you can run ANOVAs on several different DVs.

1. First, there are several dependent variables to choose from. For my
example analysis below, I want to focus on Part II in your survey

PAPER II: METHODS AND RESULTS INSTRUCTIONS 8

(cheating impressions). Since each of these seven questions are

scaled variables that range from 1 to 6, each uses an interval scale,

which is perfect for an ANOVA.

2. Second, given that this study has one IV with three levels and we
will look at one DV at a time, a One-Way ANOVA is the best test to

use to see if there are significant differences among the three IV

levels for that one DV. We look first at the ANOVA table (or F

table) and focus on the between subject factor. We note the degrees

of freedom, the F value itself, and the p value. (We’ll get into two-

way ANOVAs later in this course, but here we only have one

independent variable, so it is a one-way ANOVA. Yes, we have

three levels to our IV, but it is still only one IV).

3. If the p value is significant (less than .05), we have one more step to
take. Since this is a three level IV, we need to compare mean A to

mean B, mean A to mean C, and mean B to mean C. We do this

using a post hoc test (try using Tukey!). That will tell us which of the

means differ significantly. You then write up the results. For

example, let’s say I ran an ANOVA on the dependent variable

“Abigail’s behavior was wrong”. My write up would look like this

(though note: I completely made up the data below, so don’t copy

the numbers!) …

a. “Using consensus condition (support v. oppose v. mixed) as
our independent variable and ratings of “Abigail’s behavior

was wrong” as the dependent variable, we found a significant

condition effect, F(2, 203) = 4.32, p < .05. Tukey post hoc

tests showed that participants felt the cheating was less

wrong in the support condition (M = 2.56, SD = 1.21) than

participants in both the oppose (M = 4.24, SD = 0.89) and

mixed (M = 4.23, SD = 0.77) conditions. The oppose and

mixed conditions, however, did not differ from each other.

This supports our prediction that participants exposed to

unanimously supportive friend comments would similarly

support Abigail, while any opposition (whether unanimous or

not) would make her behavior seem more wrong.”

i. Note there are lots of possible outcomes. The one
above essentially says that condition S (support)

differed from O (oppose) and M (mixed), but that O

and M did not differ from each other (In other words,

S ≠ O = M). However, we might also find that NONE

of the three conditions differ from each other, so they

are all equal (S = O = M) or we might find that ALL

conditions differ from each other (S ≠ O ≠ M), so

they all differ

ii. As an example for this latter (S ≠ O ≠ M), I would
predict no differences between the three conditions

for the dependent variable “Abigail’s behavior was

wrong”

b. Make sure to italicize the F, p, M, and SD (as in the example)

PAPER II: METHODS AND RESULTS INSTRUCTIONS 9

c. Pretty simple, right! I suggest running an ANOVA on any of
the statements in Part II (though I suggest doing more than

one ANOVA here – the practice will help you, so look at

multiple Part II DVs!)

d. You could run a t-Test on one of those Part II dependent
variables as well, but for this semester’s study on consensus,

I actually want you to run a t-Test on Part III Question #3.

Here’s how:

iii. t-Test: If you have only two levels to your IV (e.g. Support and Oppose
only), things are even more simple.

1. Here, you will run a t-Test (a t-Test looks at differences between
only two groups). Again, your lab presentations tell you how to run

this, but you can do it on your own as well (you can even run this if

your study originally has three levels to the IV – when you go into

the t-Test menu in SPSS, choose “define groups” and select 1 and 2

(Support = 1 and Oppose = 2). This will let you look at two of the

groups! You could also select “2 and 3” or “1 and 3” where the

Mixed condition = 3).

2. Rather than an F value, we will look at the t value in the t-Test data
output. Here, we have one number for the degree of freedom, we

have the t value, and we have the p value.

3. The nice thing about a t-Test is that since you only have two groups,
you do not need a post hoc test like Tukey (you only need that if you

have to compare three means. Here, we only have two means, so we

can just look at them and see which one is higher and which is lower

when our t-Test is significant). Then just write it up …

a. “Using consensus condition (support v. oppose) as our
independent variable and ratings of “I would give Abigail the

same advice that her friends gave her” as our dependent

variable, we failed to find a significant condition effect,

t(203) = 1.12, p > .05. Participants in both the support

condition (M = 4.56, SD = 1.21) and participants in the

oppose condition (M = 4.24, SD = 0.89). said they would

give Abigail the same advice that her friends gave her. This

indicates that participants do pay attention to consensus and

feel fine conforming their own beliefs in line with that

consensus”

b. Repeat for other dependent variables
c. Make sure to italicize the t, p, M , and SD (as in the example)

iv. Statistics order recommendation: For this paper, start your results section
with the chi square (your manipulation check). Then talk about your main

analyses (Any question from Part II followed by the analysis of the Part III

Question #3 dependent variable). Make sure the analyses line up with your

hypotheses.

e. There is no page minimum or maximum for the results section, though I would
expect it to be at least a paragraph or two for each dependent variable

5. Appendices (4 points)

PAPER II: METHODS AND RESULTS INSTRUCTIONS 10

a. I want to make sure you are including the correct numbers in your results section,
so I want you to include all relevant SPSS tables for each of your analyses in a

series of appendices.

i. Appendix A: Include your tables for age, gender, and ethnicity.
ii. Appendix B: Include your tables for your chi square and the crosstabs

iii. Appendix C: Include your tables for your first dependent variable (This
must be an ANOVA table, the descriptive statistics table for that ANOVA,

and the post hoc test whether it is significant or not)

iv. Appendix D: Include your tables for you second dependent variable (You
should include t-Test tables here. This would involve both the descriptives

for the t-Test and the t-Test output itself

v. Appendix E: (If applicable)
b. Hint: The best way to get these tables is to copy them directly from SPSS. In the

SPSS output, right click on the table, copy it, and then paste it into your appendix.

Another alternative is to use a “snipping” tool (search “snipping tool” in Microsoft

Word to find it). You can highlight an area on any computer page and save it as a

picture. Copy the picture and paste it into your appendix. Easy!

i. I’m not worried if your table is not all on the same line. If it spills over into
the next page, that is fine. I just need to see the full table

c. Make sure to give a proper name to the appendix (e.g. Appendix A – Study One
Demographics)

6. Discussion Study One (2 points)
a. In this section, tell me about your findings and if they did or did not support your

results. It might help to refer back to your hypotheses “We expected to find A but

instead found B” or “We expected to find A and results supported this hypothesis.”

Explain using plain English why you think your study turned out the way it did.

b. IMPORTANT – Do NOT give me statistics again here. I can find those in your
results section. Here, all I want is a plain English summary of your findings.

c. Also, don’t give me results for a DV if you did not run an analysis on that DV. Only
tell me about the results you actually looked at in the results section.

d. There is no length requirement for this section, but I recommend at least four or five
sentences

7. Overall writing quality (3 points)
a. Make sure you check your paper for proper spelling and grammar. The FIU writing

center is available if you want someone to look over your paper (an extra eye is

always good!) and give you advice. I highly recommend them, as writing quality

will become even more important on future papers. I also recommend visiting the

FIU Research Methods Help Center if you need additional guidance with writing or

statistical analyses. Also, remember to upload this paper through the Pearson writer

before uploading to Canvas!

b. Make sure to use the past tense throughout your paper. You already did the paper,
so don’t tell me what participants are going to do. Tell me what they did!

Other Guidelines for Paper II – Methods and Results (Study One)

▪ 1). Page size is 8 1/2 X 11” with all 4 margins should be one inch. You must use a 12-point
font in Times New Roman.

PAPER II: METHODS AND RESULTS INSTRUCTIONS 11

▪ 2). PLEASE use a spell checker and/or Pearson Writer to avoid unnecessary errors.
Proofread everything you write. I actually recommend reading some sentences aloud to see

if they flow well, or getting family or friends to read your work.

▪ Use the Paper II Checklist on the next page before you turn in your paper to make sure it is
the best paper you can write!

▪ Finally, go look at the supporting documents for this paper. Like Paper I, there is a
checklist, a grade rubric, and an example paper for Paper II. All will give you more

information about what we are specifically looking for as well as a visual example of how

to put it all together in your paper. Good luck!

Stimulus Materials and Researcher Instructions – Spring, 2020 – Consensus / Conformity Study

Instructions: This Spring, 2020, we are going to run a series of studies looking at how participants respond to a cheating scenario. We’ll do this by showing participants a fake Facebook page that contains the user’s confession to cheating followed by different feedback comments from her friends (opposing, supporting, or mixed feedback). The main focus of our study is to see how our participants perceive the cheating based on whether the user’s friends are unanimously supportive, oppositional, or mixed in response to the cheating. Because research suggests that people don’t like to break unanimity, the likelihood is high that participants will conform their own feedback and thoughts about cheating in the same direction as the user’s friends.

1). For your first experimental study, you will play the role of researcher, and you will collect data from three different participants (though you will combine your data with other class members, so your final data set will have nearly 140 people!). There are two phases to this study. In the first phase, you will orally ask participants if they are willing to participate in a research study. In the second phase, participants will complete a five-part survey. In Part One, participants will read the “About” Facebook page for a college student named Abigail Foster, getting some general information about Abigail, looking at a confession that she made about cheating on an exam, and reading the feedback that her friends gave her regarding her cheating. In Part Two, participants will rate Abigail’s behavior. In Part Three, participants will rate how they would respond to Abigail, how they would respond themselves in the same situation, and provide some ratings of their general impressions of Abigail. In Part Four, participants will complete demographic questions. Finally, in Part Five, participants will tell us about the general nature of the feedback Abigail’s friends gave her (our manipulation check in this study). To run this study, use the following steps:

A). Your first task is to approach three different participants (not all at the same time!). They must be people that you do not know, and cannot be taking a psychology research methods class during the Fall, 2019 semester or the Spring, 2020 semester. Please DO NOT complete this study yourself, and use only FIU students or strangers as participants (no family / friends for this study – You will use them in a later replication study toward the end of the summer semester). There are 48 students in our class, so with each student getting data from 3 people, our final sample will be around 140 participants total.

B). Phase I: Informed Consent

1). Informed Consent:

· Ask the potential participant if he or she is willing to participate in a study for your research methods class. You will get their informed consent verbally. Tell them:

“Hello, this semester in my psychology research methods class, we are collecting different types of data (demographic information, open-ended questions, scaled questions, etc.) that we will analyze in our statistical lab. I was wondering if you would be willing to participate in my study. The study takes about five to ten minutes. There are no risks to participating, and the main benefit is that I can complete my class assignment. Will you participate?”

· An oral Yes or No response is fine. If they say no, thank them and find a different participant. If they say yes, move to the next step (Phase II – Questionnaire).

C). Phase II: “Questionnaire”

1). General Instructions

· After getting participant’s oral informed consent, randomly give them
ONE
of the three “Research Study – Florida International University – Spring, 2020” documents. These documents contain our primary independent and dependent variables for the study. One third of our research participants will be in the “Support” consensus condition, one third will be in the “Oppose” consensus condition, and one third will be in the “Mixed” condition. Participants should not know what condition they are in.

· Ask participants to follow the instructions at the top of the questionnaire. Tell them to read EVERYTHING on the Facebook page, as they will answer questions about it later and will need to do so through memory. They can move through the five “Parts” in this survey at their own pace. Make sure they complete all questionnaire parts (though they can leave some demographic questions blank if they do not want to provide the details).

2). Questionnaire

· In Part I, participants look at the Facebook “About” page for a college student named Abigail Foster. The page contains a picture masthead profile picture of Abigail, a generic “About” section (which contains basic information About Abigail), fake advertisements, a “Friends” list with selfies of six friends, and a long paragraph that Abigail posted earlier that day. This paragraph is very important, as it discusses an incident in which Abigail accidentally received an exam answer key during an exam and used it to get the best grade in the course (raising the curve and potentially hurting the scores of other test-takers). She feels bad about it, and wants some help from her friends. Please note that EVERYTHING on the Facebook page up to this point is identical across all three conditions (but don’t tell participants that!). So what differs? The comments from her friends! You will notice that in one survey, the comments universally support her cheating. In another survey, the comments universally oppose her cheating. The comments on the third survey are more mixed. That is …

· In the “Support” consensus condition, there are eight comments from Abigail’s friends, which universally support her cheating. These include comments like, “Wow, Abigail, sounds like you really lucked out there. Take the grade. You “earned” it!” and “Listen, it’s not like you intended to cheat going into the exam. The prof should have checked to make sure he was handing out only blank exams. His mistake – your big break! Take the grade.”

· In the “Oppose” consensus condition, there are eight comments from Abigail’s friends, which universally oppose her cheating. These include comments like, “Wow, Abigail, though it sounds like you really lucked out there, you can’t take the grade. You didn’t really “earn” it!” and “Listen, it’s not like you intended to cheat going into the exam. The prof should have checked to make sure he was handing out only blank exams. His mistake – but your integrity! Don’t take the grade.”

· In the “Mixed” no consensus condition, there are once again eight comments from Abigail’s friends, but these are more mixed (with some of the same oppose comments from the “Oppose” condition and some of the same support comments from the “Support” conditions intermixed). Thus there is no real consensus in this condition

· A quick note for you (the researcher): If you look at the bottom of the survey in the footer on the second survey page, you will see one of the following: “S”, “O”, or “M”, which relate to the three study conditions – That is, S is for “Support”, O is for “Oppose”, and M is for “Mixed”. It’s a nice shorthand so you can tell which survey the participant completed (but this is not something you need to report in your papers – it’s just a handy reference for you as you collect data)

· In Part II, participants will rate their impressions of Abigail Foster’s behavior (the Facebook user). Here, participants are asked to agree or disagree with seven statements about Abigail, with all seven using an interval scale ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 6 (Strongly Agree). These statements include, “Abigail’s behavior was wrong”, Abigail’s behavior was understandable”, “Abigail’s behavior was reasonable”, “Abigail’s behavior was unethical”, “Abigail’s behavior was immoral”, “Abigail’s behavior was appropriate”, and “Abigail’s behavior was unacceptable.” Although you
can
look at any (or all) of these seven statements when you write Paper II (which focuses on the methods and results for this study), you only need to focus on one of them in your later analyses. You’ll note that many of them are similar (terms like “wrong”, “immoral”, “unethical”, and “unacceptable” are similar, and will produce similar ratings). We expect participant ratings to differ depending on their condition. That is, participants will probably rate Abigail’s behavior as more wrong, immoral, unethical, and unacceptable (and less understandable, reasonable, and appropriate) in the “Oppose Consensus” condition than in the “Support Consensus” condition, with those in the “Mixed Consensus” condition falling closer to the center of the rating scales. That is, participant responses will conform to the consensus of Abigail’s friends.

· In Part III, participants will rate several statements about what advice they would give Abigail, how they would respond in the same situation, and provide ratings of their general impressions of Abigail. Statements 1, 2, and 3 relate to the advice they would give Abigail (“I would advise Abigail to keep silent”, “I would try to comfort Abigail”, and “I would give Abigail the same advice that her friends gave her”). We expect once again that participant ratings will differ depending on their condition, with “Oppose” consensus participants less likely to endorse keeping silent or comforting Abigail than “Support” consensus participants. The third question, though, is very interesting. If conformity is really working in our study, then both “Support” consensus and “Oppose” consensus participants should strongly agree with statement 3! That is, we shouldn’t see differences between those conditions. Statements 4 and 5 are based on how the participant would respond in the same situation. Given social desirability biases, participants will most likely respond in a socially desirable way (say they would not keep silent). The remaining items in statements six through twelve are based on the warmth/competency scales developed by Fiske. We will probably ignore these in our own analyses, but it might be interesting to see how participants rate Abigail in terms of her personality traits.

· In Part IV, participants will complete demographic questions. Most of these items are easy to complete without violating participant’s privacy, but they will know they can leave blank any question(s) they feel uncomfortable answering.

· In Part V, participants will tell us whether the feedback Abigail received from her friends tended to support her behavior, oppose her behavior, or was more mixed. Unlike the statements in Parts II and III (which used interval scales, allowing us to analyze them with t-Tests or ANOVAs), the nominal scale used in Part V (three answer options in no particular order) only permit us to use a chi square analysis. We’ll discuss those more as we get to Paper Two.

D). Once participants have completed the questionnaire, debrief them regarding the study. That is, tell them about Conformity / Consensus and your main hypothesis. Read them the following:

“Thank you for participating. The purpose of this study is to determine if Facebook feedback that seems to support or oppose cheating impacts how participants perceived that cheating. That is, will Facebook feedback that appears to support (versus oppose) a friend who cheated on an exam influence how participants perceive that cheating? To study this possibility, participants all read the same cheating scenario in which a girl (Abigail) cheated on an exam by using an answer key the professor mistakenly gave her. When seeking advice from her friends, he friends either gave her
unanimously

supportive
feedback (“Wow, Abigail, sounds like you really lucked out there. Take the grade. You “earned” it!” and “Listen, it’s not like you intended to cheat going into the exam. The prof should have checked to make sure he was handing out only blank exams. His mistake – your big break! Take the grade.”),
unanimously

oppositional
feedback (“Wow, Abigail, though it sounds like you really lucked out there, you can’t take the grade. You didn’t really “earn” it!” and “Listen, it’s not like you intended to cheat going into the exam. The prof should have checked to make sure he was handing out only blank exams. His mistake – but your integrity! Don’t take the grade.”), or
mixed
feedback. The word “unanimous” is important here. When the feedback is unanimous (either in support of the user or opposing her), it is harder to voice a contrary opinion. When feedback is mixed, it is easier to voice a true opinion.

In general, we predict that participants who read unanimously supportive feedback will rate the Facebook user’s conduct as more acceptable than participants who read unanimously oppositional feedback, with those who read mixed feedback falling between these extremes.

More specifically, participants in the unanimously supportive condition will more strongly agree with supportive survey statements (“Abigail’s behavior was understandable, “Abigail’s behavior was reasonable”, “Abigail’s behavior was appropriate”, “I would advise Abigail to keep silent”, and “I would try to comfort Abigail”) and more strongly disagree with oppositional survey statements (“Abigail’s behavior was wrong”, “Abigail’s behavior was unethical”, “Abigail’s behavior was immoral”, and “Abigail’s behavior was unacceptable”) compared to participants in the unanimously oppositional condition, with participants in the mixed condition falling between these extremes. However, participants in both the unanimously supportive and unanimously oppositional conditions will strongly agree that they would give Abigail the same advice that her friends gave her.**

We will test these hypotheses in our methods course this semester. Thank you for participating!

**Methods Students: Note that the underlined paragraphs above will be helpful when you write Paper I! In fact, you can use that underlined paragraphs in your first paper if you like (just copy and paste it into your hypotheses). However, the predictions ARE NOT INCLUDED in your minimum page count. That is, you can copy/paste the predictions, but they do not count in the page minimum! Also note that in the last sentence in this paragraph, I highlighted eight different dependent variables (understandable, reasonable, wrong, etc.). Since you are not required to analyze every dependent variable in Part III of your survey, feel free to edit this last paragraph to include ONLY the two dependent variables that you actually analyzed (this applies mostly to Paper II when you figure out which DVs you want to focus on in your Results Section analysis. There is no point in making predictions about dependent variables you did not actually analyze, so just focus on the two dependent variable most relevant to your own study in your predictions.)

2). Hold onto the completed questionnaires, as you will use them in an upcoming lab. You will enter data into SPSS and analyze it during your lab. Important note: Each student researcher is responsible for collecting data from three participants (one participant for each study condition – OC, SC and MC). However, we will combine survey data from ALL students in your lab section, so your final sample will include at least 140 or so participants. In your papers (especially Paper II), you will use this total set of research participants (at least 140), NOT just the three that you collected yourself. Don’t even discuss “Three participants”, as that is not correct. Discuss ALL 140 participants in your papers

3). One last note: Pay close attention to these instructions! You can use them as the basis for Paper II later this semester when you discuss your methods section. That being said, these instructions are too long for a methods section, and includes information you will need to omit for Paper II. When writing that paper, make sure to only report the important aspects (what you actually did in the study). Write about what you actually did in the study!

Study Set-Up

Main Theme and Three Level Independent Variable: Morally ambiguous situation presented via a Facebook post with the female user asking for her friends’ opinions regarding her actions. In some, there is 100% consensus favorable to what she did; in another there is 100% consensus unfavorable to what she did; in the last there is a mixture of positive and negative feedback.

Moral Dilemma: The user relates a story that the instructor handed out exams in class in a class where she was really struggling with the content, but must have included the answer key in the version she got. She didn’t say anything, and simply copied down the correct answers (though she missed a few so it wasn’t so obvious she was cheating). She still got the highest grade by far in the class. The instructor curves the scores, so she knows that her benefit hurt other students. She feels bad about it, and wants to know if students think she is a terrible person and whether she should tell the instructor what happened.

Dependent variables:

1. Warm-Cold Scale

2. Accepting / Rejecting what she did

3. Self-Ratings

Abigail’s Post

So, I did something … well, something I’m kind of embarrassed about. I’ve been having a hard time in my statistics class, and I knew I was going to fail the exam. I studied for it so hard, too! Well, the prof handed out the exam, and he must have made a mistake, because when I got my test, it turned out it was (wait for it!) … the answer key. I know, I know. I should have turned it in, but I REALLY needed to pass the exam. I used the answer key, and got the best score on the exam. Turns out the rest of the class did really bad, and the prof said he had planned to curve the grade. However, since someone got a perfect score, there was no curve needed. I’m sure if I’d done worse, the curve would have brought some other student scores up. So am I a bad person? Should I tell the prof what happened. I don’t know. Help!

Positive Feedback (Consensus)

1. Wow, Abigail, sounds like you really lucked out there. Take the grade. You “earned” it!

2. I agree. You got lucky! Incredibly lucky! I’d probably take the grade, too. I’ve taken that class, and it is impossibly hard. Anything you can do to make it a bit easier on yourself is worth it.

3. Listen, it’s not like you intended to cheat going into the exam. The prof should have checked to make sure he was only handing out blank exams. His mistake – your big break! Take the grade

4. Yeah, I’m of the same opinion. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth! Take the win

5.

You know that if you didn’t get the answer key, another student would have and then THEY would have the highest grade and you’d lose out in the curve. Don’t feel too bad

6. I’ve read the other comments on your wall, Abigail, and I think they gave you some good advice. If you go to the prof now, you might get in real trouble, and it’s not like you went in planning to use the answer key.

7. What can I say that hasn’t already been said? Their loss – your gain!

8. If it were me, I’d tell the prof … NOT! Don’t be crazy, Abby. You might blow the next exam, so it will all even out in the end

Negative Feedback (Consensus)

1. Wow, Abigail, though it sounds like you really lucked out there, you can’t take the grade. You didn’t really “earn” it!

2. I agree. You got lucky! Dishonorably lucky. I’d never take the grade. I’ve taken that class, and it is impossibly hard, but taking the easy way out isn’t worth it.

3. Listen, it’s not like you intended to cheat going into the exam. The prof should have checked to make sure he was only handing out blank exams. His mistake – but your integrity. Don’t take the grade

4. Yeah, I’m of the same opinion. Look this gift horse in the mouth! It’s a loser

5. You know that if you didn’t get the answer key, another student would have and then THEY would have the highest grade and you’d lose out in the curve. How would you feel then?

6. I’ve read the other comments on your wall, Abigail, and I think they gave you some good advice. If you don’t go to the prof now, you might get in real trouble later. Just tell him it’s not like you went in planning to use the answer key.

7. What can I say that hasn’t already been said? The whole class lost – only you gained.

8. If it were me, I’d tell the prof … DEFINITELY! Don’t be crazy, Abby. You might ace the next exam, so it will all even out in the end if you tell

Middling Feedback (No Consensus)

1. Wow, Abigail, though it sounds like you really lucked out there, you can’t take the grade. You didn’t really “earn” it!

2. I disagree. You got lucky! Incredibly lucky! I’d probably take the grade, too. I’ve taken that class, and it is impossibly hard. Anything you can do to make it a bit easier on yourself is worth it.

3. Listen, it’s not like you intended to cheat going into the exam. The prof should have checked to make sure he was only handing out blank exams. His mistake – but your integrity. Don’t take the grade
4. Yeah, I’m of the same opinion. Look this gift horse in the mouth! It’s a loser
5. You know that if you didn’t get the answer key, another student would have and then THEY would have the highest grade and you’d lose out in the curve. Don’t feel too bad

6. I’ve read the other comments on your wall, Abigail, and I think they gave you some good advice. If you go to the prof now, you might get in real trouble, and it’s not like you went in planning to use the answer key.
7. What can I say that hasn’t already been said? The whole class lost – only you gained.
8. If it were me, I’d tell the prof … NOT! Don’t be crazy, Abby. You might blow the next exam, so it will all even out in the end

https://www.classtools.net/FB/1461-xvmsXS

Research Study – Florida International University – Spring, 2020

Part I
: Imagine you saw the following Facebook Page. Carefully read EVERYTHING on this page, as we will ask you about your impressions of Abigail Foster (the Facebook owner) on the next page of this survey.

Abigail Foster

Part II: Without looking back, please rate your impressions of Abigail Foster’s test-taking behavior below

Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

1

2

3

4

5

6

1. Abigail’s behavior was wrong

2. Abigail’s behavior was understandable

3. Abigail’s behavior was reasonable

4. Abigail’s behavior was unethical

5. Abigail’s behavior was immoral

6. Abigail’s behavior was appropriate

7. Abigail’s behavior was unacceptable

Part III: Without looking back, please rate how YOU would advise Abigail, rate how YOU would respond if you mistakenly received the answer key from the professor, and then generally rate Abigail

Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

1

2

3

4

5

6

1. I would advise Abigail to keep silent

2. I would try to comfort Abigail

3. I would give Abigail the same advice that her friends gave her

4. If I received the answers, I would keep silent

5. If I received the answers, I would confess

6. Abigail seems warm

7. Abigail seems good-natured

8. Abigail seems confident

9. Abigail seems competitive

10. Abigail seems sincere

11. Abigail seems moral

12. Abigail seems competent

Part IV: Please provide the following demographic information. Note: you can leave blank any question you feel uncomfortable answering.
1. What is your gender (Mark one with an X)? _____ Male _____ Female
2. What is your age? __________
3. What is your race/ethnicity? (Mark one with an X):
___ Caucasian ___ Hispanic American ____ Native Indian ___ African American
___ Asian American Other: __________________ (Please Indicate)
4. Is English your first language? (Mark one with an X): _____ Yes _____ No
If no, what is your first language? __________________
5. Are you a student at FIU (Mark one with an X): _____ Yes ______ No
6. What is your relationship status? _____ Single / No Relationship _____ In a relationship
Part V: Without looking back, what general feedback did Abigail’s friends give her? (Mark one with an X)

___ The feedback supported her behavior ___ The feedback opposed her behavior ___ Feedback was mixed
SC

Research Study – Florida International University – Spring, 2020

Part I
: Imagine you saw the following Facebook Page. Carefully read EVERYTHING on this page, as we will ask you about your impressions of Abigail Foster (the Facebook owner) on the next page of this survey.

Abigail Foster

Part II: Without looking back, please rate your impressions of Abigail Foster’s test-taking behavior below

Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

1

2

3

4

5

6

1. Abigail’s behavior was wrong

2. Abigail’s behavior was understandable

3. Abigail’s behavior was reasonable

4. Abigail’s behavior was unethical

5. Abigail’s behavior was immoral

6. Abigail’s behavior was appropriate

7. Abigail’s behavior was unacceptable

Part III: Without looking back, please rate how YOU would advise Abigail, rate how YOU would respond if you mistakenly received the answer key from the professor, and then generally rate Abigail

Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

1

2

3

4

5

6

1. I would advise Abigail to keep silent

2. I would try to comfort Abigail

3. I would give Abigail the same advice that her friends gave her

4. If I received the answers, I would keep silent

5. If I received the answers, I would confess

6. Abigail seems warm

7. Abigail seems good-natured

8. Abigail seems confident

9. Abigail seems competitive

10. Abigail seems sincere

11. Abigail seems moral

12. Abigail seems competent

Part IV: Please provide the following demographic information. Note: you can leave blank any question you feel uncomfortable answering.
1. What is your gender (Mark one with an X)? _____ Male _____ Female
2. What is your age? __________
3. What is your race/ethnicity? (Mark one with an X):
___ Caucasian ___ Hispanic American ____ Native Indian ___ African American
___ Asian American Other: __________________ (Please Indicate)
4. Is English your first language? (Mark one with an X): _____ Yes _____ No
If no, what is your first language? __________________
5. Are you a student at FIU (Mark one with an X): _____ Yes ______ No
6. What is your relationship status? _____ Single / No Relationship _____ In a relationship
Part V: Without looking back, what general feedback did Abigail’s friends give her? (Mark one with an X)

___ The feedback supported her behavior ___ The feedback opposed her behavior ___ Feedback was mixed
MC

Research Study – Florida International University – Spring, 2020

Part I
: Imagine you saw the following Facebook Page. Carefully read EVERYTHING on this page, as we will ask you about your impressions of Abigail Foster (the Facebook owner) on the next page of this survey.

Abigail Foster

Part II: Without looking back, please rate your impressions of Abigail Foster’s test-taking behavior below

Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

1

2

3

4

5

6

1. Abigail’s behavior was wrong

2. Abigail’s behavior was understandable

3. Abigail’s behavior was reasonable

4. Abigail’s behavior was unethical

5. Abigail’s behavior was immoral

6. Abigail’s behavior was appropriate

7. Abigail’s behavior was unacceptable

Part III: Without looking back, please rate how YOU would advise Abigail, rate how YOU would respond if you mistakenly received the answer key from the professor, and then generally rate Abigail

Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

1

2

3

4

5

6

1. I would advise Abigail to keep silent

2. I would try to comfort Abigail

3. I would give Abigail the same advice that her friends gave her

4. If I received the answers, I would keep silent

5. If I received the answers, I would confess

6. Abigail seems warm

7. Abigail seems good-natured

8. Abigail seems confident

9. Abigail seems competitive

10. Abigail seems sincere

11. Abigail seems moral

12. Abigail seems competent

Part IV: Please provide the following demographic information. Note: you can leave blank any question you feel uncomfortable answering.
1. What is your gender (Mark one with an X)? _____ Male _____ Female
2. What is your age? __________
3. What is your race/ethnicity? (Mark one with an X):
___ Caucasian ___ Hispanic American ____ Native Indian ___ African American
___ Asian American Other: __________________ (Please Indicate)
4. Is English your first language? (Mark one with an X): _____ Yes _____ No
If no, what is your first language? __________________
5. Are you a student at FIU (Mark one with an X): _____ Yes ______ No
6. What is your relationship status? _____ Single / No Relationship _____ In a relationship
Part V: Without looking back, what general feedback did Abigail’s friends give her? (Mark one with an X)

___ The feedback supported her behavior ___ The feedback opposed her behavior ___ Feedback was mixed
OC