There are two choices for this question. Choose one question for your main post. Be sure to label which choice you selected in your main post. Please address all parts of the question in your main post. Besides your main post, you need to submit at least two replies to the main posts of classmates. You should post at least one reply to a classmate who answered the alternative question.

Designing a Study

The course text and reading materials refers to several research methods -- "correlational designs", "experimental designs", "naturalistic observations" "surveys" and "case studies" -- for the study of psychological issues.

Imagine you are a psychology researcher/social scientist and want to examine how the use of technology (i.e., use of cell phones, texting, Facebook, etc) has affected social interactions and behavior between high school students.

What might be one or more hypotheses you want to test?

Pick a research method you might consider using for this study and explain why you chose that method rather than others.

Discuss what challenges, problems, and limitations you might encounter when doing a research study on this area.

Reviewing a Study

Find an article published in a scientific journal within the last 6 years about any area of psychology - social psychology, personality, motivation, emotion, consciousness, facial recognition, mental disorders, psychological treatment, etc. Use the ESC Library or another college library to search for psychology articles. Do not use Wikipedia, About.com, Google, Google Scholar, etc. as your source.

Read the article and in your own words, describe the study and its purpose in a paragraph or two. Do not simply copy and paste the article abstract.

Include a hyper link to the article so others in class can read and comment too.

Identify and describe what was the hypothesis or hypotheses being studied?

Identify and describe what research method(s) was used - observations in a lab, natural observations, surveys, case study, correlational study, experiment etc.?

What was the overall result of the study?