Design an Experiment

For this assignment you will choose one of the below topics (Part 1) and develop an experiment. You should tie in information from class for the introduction which should provide an argument for why your study is important. You will then describe the methods of your study.

All assignments should be double spaced using Times New Roman font size 12, and be a maximum of 3-pages.

Part 1: Pick ONE of the following topics for your experiment:

1. The relationship between self-esteem and test performance.

2. The relationship between the amount of time couples spend together and their relationship satisfaction.

3. The relationship between the physical attractiveness of a political candidate and voters' opinions of her.

4. The relationship between a juror's stereotype and their verdict for a defendant.

Part 2: Provide a brief introduction (1-2 paragraph) to explain your topic. This should incorporate specific information covered in class. This paragraph should provide an argument for why the topic you chose is important.

*Be sure to tie in at least 1 theory that we covered in class that is related to your topic. Explain this theory and how it is related to your topic.

Part 3: What is your hypothesis? Aka: What do you expect your results to show?
*End the introduction section with your hypothesis.

Part 4: What are your methods?

1. Who is your sample?

a. What is your eligibility criteria for participants?

b. Where are participants recruited from?

2. How will you measure the variables you chose?

a. Be sure to describe how you will measure all variables in your experiment.

b. If you are using a questionnaire how will the measures be examined (e.g., a 5-point scale where 1 = ??? and 5 = ???).

c. If you are using an implicit association task identify your stimuli.

d. Describe any tasks in detail.

e. Refer to class notes for help identifying experimental tasks/paradigms and questionnaires.

3. What is your procedure?

a. Where will the experiment take place?

b. Is this a one-time study, or are there multiple time points?

c. In other words, describe in detail what participants will go through during your experiment.