An article by Christie Napa Scollon that outlines the basics of research designs in psychology, including information about experimental vs. correlational design. This reading would be a good introduction to the topic, or a good review for students who previously took a methods course. You can access the full chapter here.
NOBA: Research Designs Read More »
This study examined the effectiveness of graphic warnings (i.e., pictures) for reducing the appeal of tobacco products. In the study, researchers exposed smokers and nonsmokers to combinations of large versus small warning labels and the inclusion versus omission of graphic pictures on three types of tobacco products. For the within-subjects component, each participant saw advertisements
Exemplar Study: Do Graphic Warnings Make Cigarettes Less Cool? (Mixed Design) Read More »
This article examined how the perception of cuteness influences behavioral carefulness, enhancing people’s ability to care for infants. While researchers took physiological measures of heart activity and skin conductance, they exposed participants to a slide show of pictures of either infant animals (kittens and puppies) previously judged as very cute or adult animals (cats and
Exemplar Study: Does Cuteness Make Us Careful? (Mixed Design) Read More »
This study sought to determine if a woman’s appearance influences perceptions of her ability to perform a job. Undergraduates rated photographs of women as part of a 2 (Career: office assistant vs. CEO ) X 2 (Appearance: professional attire vs. sexual attire) design. Participants rated photos along several dimensions such as grade point average, organizational
Exemplar Study: Texting to Ostracize (Factorial Design) Read More »
This study sought to determine if a woman’s appearance influences perceptions of her ability to perform a job. Undergraduates rated photographs of women as part of a 2 (Career: office assistant vs. CEO ) X 2 (Appearance: professional attire vs. sexual attire) design. Participants rated photos along several dimensions such as grade point average, organizational
This research focused on the brain functioning of people in love. Participants who rated themselves as being intensely in love, viewed a photo of their beloved, did a distracter task, and then viewed a photo of a neutral acquaintance while researchers took functional magnetic resonance imagery (fMRI). Each participant repeated the procedure six times. When
Exemplar Study: Must Be Love on the Brain (Within-Subjects/Repeated-Measures Design) Read More »
This multigroup experiment examined the use of an obscenity on thepersuasiveness of a pro-attitudinal message and on perceptions of thecommunicator. Participants watched one of three versions of a video inwhich the speaker advocated lowering tuition at another university. In thefirst version, the speaker used the word “damn” at the beginning of themessage. In the second
Exemplar Study: Can Using Obscenities Make You More Persuasive? (Multigroup Design) Read More »
This article indicated that being excluded from social groups leads todecreases in prosocial behavior. Participants received either no feedback on apersonality measure or one of three types of false feedback that indicated afuture full of rewarding relationships, loneliness, or unfortunate accidents.Participants receiving the social exclusion feedback were unwilling tovolunteer for further lab experiments and, after
Exemplar Study: Social Exclusion and Prosocial Behavior (Multigroup Design) Read More »
To evaluate the effect that a helpful message from a server might have on restaurant tips, the server either wrote a message about an upcoming dinner special on the back of the dining check or left it blank. Dining parties who received a check with the helpful message tipped a higher percentage of the final
Exemplar Study: Tipping in Restaurants (Two-group Design/Simple Experiment) Read More »
Instructors should assign this problem (about how temperature impacts mood) to students as in-class practice or homework after students have learned how to calculate a t-test for independent means and test for significance. The activity leads students through determining the type of statistical analysis to use, the hypotheses, calculating the t-ratio and effect size (if
Practice: Calculating the t-test for Independent Samples/Means (Temperature and Mood) Read More »
Instructors should assign this problem (about how taking research methods impacts GPA) to students as in-class practice or homework after students have learned how to calculate a t-test for independent means and test for significance. The activity leads students through determining the type of statistical analysis to use, the hypotheses, calculating the t-ratio and effect
Instructors should assign this problem (about drugs and learning) to students as in-class practice or homework after students have learned how to calculate a t-test for dependent means and test for significance. The activity leads students through determining the type of statistical analysis to use, the hypotheses, calculating the t-ratio and effect size (if appropriate),
Practice: Calculating the t-test for Paired-Samples/Dependent Means (Drugs and Learning) Read More »
This lecture introduces students to several different ways of measuring behavior as the dependent variable. Several types of behavioral measures are shown, including: behavioral trace, behavioral observation, and behavioral choice. The goal of this lecture is to get students to see other types of measuring DVs, aside from self-report. This starts with a quick overview
Lecture Slides: Measuring Dependent Variables Read More »
This lecture introduces students to several different ways of manipulating independent variables. Some techniques covered include: mock Facebook profiles, priming, having participants count money, and viewing cute pictures. The goal of this lecture is to get students to see a variety of ways that researchers can manipulate IVs. Each example provides the citation for the
Lecture Slides: Manipulating Independent Variables Read More »
In this demonstration/activity (with PowerPoint slides) four student volunteers have the opportunity to provide taste ratings for several types of pie. Instructors would need to provide plates, napkins, utensils, and the 4 types of pie. Type of pie can obviously vary, but students seem to be more engaged when there is an obvious “cheap” kind
Lecture Slides: Pie Taste Test (MultiGroup / Repeated-Measures Design Demonstration) Read More »
In this demonstration/activity (with PowerPoint slides) students are randomly assigned to a high or low arousal group based on the last digit of their social security number. Those in high arousal condition believe they will give a short speech on a randomly selected topic. Those in low arousal condition believe they will merely listen a
Lecture Slides: Arousal and Attraction (Two-Group Design Demonstration) Read More »
Instructors should assign this problem (about graduate programs training students to think logically) to students as in-class practice or homework after students have learned how to calculate a t-test for dependent means and test for significance. The activity leads students through determining the type of statistical analysis to use, the hypotheses, calculating the t-ratio and
In this demonstration/activity (with PowerPoint slides) students are randomly assigned to one of three groups. Those in Group 1 are the picture only condition and simply view the pictures. Those in Group 2 eat cookies while looking at the pictures. Those in Group 3 eat candy while looking at the pictures. The Instructor would need
Lecture Slides: Something You Will Like (Multigroup Design Demonstration) Read More »
