Guidelines for the Research Report

SCHEDULE:

Mon, Feb 16: First draft research report due--1 copy.

Fri, Feb 27: Second (final?) draft of research report due.

Mon, March 9: Optional: Final rewrite of research report

NOTE: I will not accept a paper as final unless it is at least the second draft, and you have turned in a first draft for comments and suggestions.

TOPIC: The research report will focus on one of the two group exercises (depending on the variable of interest, you might even look at both):

Exercise #1: "Do your best" versus specific goal, brainstorming task

Click to see Exercise #1 forms and Post-task questionnaire

Exercise #2: Individual, collective, and individual decisions on Hazards & Survival task

Click to see Exercise #2 forms and Instructions

FORMAT: Paper should be 6-10 pp. double spaced (counting title page and references), and should follow APA format.

ORGANIZATION: The paper should (1) introduce the study, citing relevant literature (2) propose one or more hypotheses for the exercise based on the literature (3) describe the study design [methods section] (4) present results [descriptive, and if feasible, inferential statistics] (5) State whether the results support the hypothesis[es] or not and (6) discuss the outcomes.

NOTE: Both exercises are flawed [true of most studies, but particularly true for these because of the informal data collection]. Be sure and identify the limitations in your discussion section, and suggest how the study design could be improved.

AUTHORSHIP: You may complete the paper individually or in pairs. A clear division of labor is essential for dyadic papers, and the nature of each author's contribution should be specified in an endnote. or in a group.

MATERIALS: The materials for the report will be the instructions for the task and the data generated by the exercise. Three copies of the data are on reserve at the library. Instructions used for the task are included with the data. I will also link these to the class page.

SUPPLEMENTAL DATA:

If you want to look at extra variables that aren't in the data but are easily accessible (for example, the usual size of the groups or their early membership change history), let coach or professor know and we will make this available to you.