To prepare for this assignment:

• Review Chapter 1 of the course text, Social Psychology, focusing on research bias and research ethics.

• Watch the "Research Methods" video from the Contemporary Videos in Social Psychology DVD. Focus on the various problems that can be associated with different types of research.

• Read the online article, "What Is Ethics in Research and Why Is It Important?" Focus on the expectations of ethics for the scientific community, how results are used in the real world, and related ethical issues.

• Select one of the following articles from this week's Learning Resources:

o "Intervening to Decrease Alcohol Abuse at University Parties: Differential Reinforcement of Intoxication Level"
o "An Attitude-Behavior Model of Salespeople's Customer Orientation"
o "Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior in Preadolescence: Teachers' and Parents' Perceptions of the Behavior of Girls and Boys"
o "The Self-Protective Altruist: Terror Management and the Ambivalent Nature of Prosocial Behavior"
o "A Cross-Cultural Study of Environmental Motive Concerns and Their Implications for Proenvironmental Behavior"

• Read your selected article thoroughly and think about the following questions:

o What was the purpose of this research study?
o How were the participants selected?
o What kind of design is the study? (correlational or experimental)
o How was data collected?
o Where might bias exist in the study and for how was it controlled?
o What might be the implications of bias in this study? In other words, if the results of this study were applied in real life and bias was indeed present, what might be the results?
o Was the study conducted ethically? If so, what strategies did the researchers use to assure that the study was conducted ethically? If not, what could they have done differently?

The assignment (1-2 pages):

• Analyze the article you selected by responding to the following questions:

o Briefly, what was the purpose of the study and what were the main findings?

o Where could bias exist in the study design, in the conduct of the study, in the behavior of the study subjects as they participate in the study, or the interpretation of results? Did the research do anything to help control for bias? Explain. If there is potential bias in the study, how might this impact the use of the study results in the real world or in future research? If the researchers controlled for bias, what might be the results if they had not controlled for bias?

o Was the study conducted ethically? Explain in terms of the information you learned in the assigned readings. Would you implement additional strategies to assure an ethical study? Explain.