Tips on the empirical paper

Make sure that you are asking a question that can be (partially) answered by data.
Do not simply replicate a study that has been done before. Find some variation (e.g., in the way the data are collected, conditions under which the effect might hold or not, people for which it might hold or not,...)
State your question clearly in the introduction. Then describe how you collected data that might answer that question. Then describe some basic data analysis. Finally, draw conclusions, describe how one could do a more involved study to answer the question, etc.
Basic data analysis means that you should tabulate your data, calculate means or frequency counts and display them so the reader sees the results. If your data allow it, you might want to compute a simple t-test or chi-square test, but this is not necessary. What is necessary,however, is a good display of your data (in the form of a table or graph).
If you collect data on people, you should have at least 10 subjects (5 in your experimental group, 5 in the control group, if applicable). If you do an archival study (analyzing newspapers, TV, etc.) you should try for 5-10 units. The idea is that you should have enough units of observation to see tendencies in the data. Only few of you will have enough to run statistical tests.
Make sure that your data collection is completely without psychological and physical risk for the participants. If you think you need to use deception in your study, use only mild one, and debrief your participants thoroughly.
Be brief and precise in your write-up, so you don't go over 5 pages.

For any more questions, please send me email.