In your final paper for this course, you will need to write a Methods section that is about 3-4 pages long where you will assess and evaluate the methods and analysis of your proposed research.

In preparation for this particular section, answer the following questions thoroughly and provide justification/support. The more complete and detailed your answers for these questions, the better prepared you are to successfully write your final paper:

What is the problem being addressed by your research study?

State the refined research question and hypothesis (null and alternative).

What are your independent and dependent variables? What are their operational definitions?

Who will be included in your sample (i.e., inclusion and exclusion characteristics)?

How many participants will you have in your sample?

How will you recruit your sample?

Identify the type of measurement instrument to be used to collect the raw numeric data to be statistically analyzed and the type of measurement data the instrument produces.

What issues will you cover in the informed consent?

If there is potential risk or harm, how will you ensure the safety of all participants?

Name any possible threats to validity and steps that can be taken to minimize these threats.

What type of parametric or nonparametric inferential statistical process (correlation, difference, or effect) will you use in your proposed research? Why is this statistical test the best fit?

State an acceptable behavioral research alpha level you would use to fail to accept or fail to reject the stated null hypothesis and explain your choice.

This paper may be written in question-and-answer format rather than a flowing paper. Write your response in a 3- to 4-page Microsoft Word document.