Assignment
#6: Discussion and Abstract (15 pts)
In this class, your research reports will be written in the format
that the American Psychological Association (APA) requires of manuscripts that
are submitted for publication in APA journals. This assignment must be typed.
You must use your own words.
Some guidelines for the Discussion section
(11 pts)
The Discussion section should be between 2 and 3 pages long, maybe
longer depending on a number of factors (see below). The paper should be
typewritten in APA format. Your Discussion section should (at a minimum) include
the following:
(1)
The first few
paragraphs should provide
a.
A summary of
the hypotheses, the results corresponding to those hypotheses, and especially
whether the results supported the hypotheses or not.
b.
An argument
that ties the hypotheses and results into the theory that motivated the
experiment, especially emphasizing the primary theoretical concepts that were
tested and supported by the experiment.
c.
Placement of
the results of the present experiment in the context of past research,
especially in the context of research that you reviewed in your introduction.
(2)
The next few paragraphs
should provide an examination of some (or all) of the four big validities,
emphasizing those that are most important (i.e., construct and internal) in the
context of the present experiment.
(3)
The next few
paragraphs should include directions for future research. There are many ways
in which ideas for future research are generated, but a couple of common ones
are (a) addressing a weakness in the present experiment in future experiments
and (b) being inspired by something you read in your literature review that
maybe didn’t specifically relate to the present experiment but might be
explored in future experiments.
(4)
The final
paragraph should consist of a concluding (re)statement or two that captures the
most important contribution(s) made by the present research.
As always, it will be up to you to find a way to communicate in your
own words (1) how the results of the experiment did or did not support
the hypotheses and, ultimately, the theory that you described in your
introduction, (2) strengths and weaknesses of the present experiment in terms
of the four big validities, and (3) some relatively specific ideas about other
ways in which the theory that you presented in the introduction and/or the
Stroop response set manipulation might be further explored or applied in future
experiments.
The Abstract (4 pts)
The Abstract should be no longer than 150 words. Each of the major
sections of the paper (i.e., Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion)
should each be captured by a sentence or two in your abstract. By reading the
abstract, a reader should be able to get a good sense of the research question,
how the research question was addressed, the results of the research, and the
importance of the research.