Week 8 – Portfolio (single summative assessment
For this module, you will work on various components that are all submitted as a single portfolio at the end of Week 8. This includes two categories of work: Section One is based on research methods and design; and Section Two on statistical analysis and research reporting.
The entire portfolio is worth 100% of your module grade. Each of the assessment components links to one of the weeks of the module to facilitate weekly progress. We strongly urge you to work on the portfolio in an ongoing manner throughout the module. It is essential that you ensure all components are uploaded as Word, PDF or PowerPoint documents at the end of Week 8. You can download Microsoft Office software for free from the University website. Submitting the work in any other format runs the risk of it not being marked.
You must apply APA7 referencing to all of your work and provide a separate reference list at the end of each component. For further information on APA referencing, please visit the APA webpages.
Please do not try to upload individual components before the deadline – you will need to upload all of them at the same time.
You must upload the following – please use this checklist when you submit to ensure you have uploaded everything:
Component
Submitted Word count
Section One: Research Development & Design
• Study design map consisting of the following (700 words)
• Literature scoping
• Research question and hypothesis
• Research design
Section Two: Statistical Analysis and Research Reporting
• Statistics decision making table (200 words)
• Data analysis and write up (900 words)
• Narrated conference poster presentation (700 words)
Section One: Research Development and Design
Study Design Map
A study design map includes a rationale for conducting a piece of research of your choosing. A hypothesis generated from the readings supplied in the rationale, named independent, dependent and mediator/ moderator variables (if required) alongside your operationalisation and measurement, methodology (700 words in total).
Literature Scoping
For this component, you need to complete a literature search using a psychology database within the electronic resources of the library. You need to detail the search terms you use. You will then use two key papers that emerged from the literature scoping activity to write a rationale as to why your proposed research is needed (200 words).
Research Question and Hypothesis
Drawing on your rationale and the key theoretical points of your chosen papers, you now need to detail your research question and the hypothesis you would test in the proposed research. Please keep it simple and note a single hypothesis. This may be two tailed or one-tailed but must align with the proposed design and materials outlined in your methodology proposal below.
Whilst you would not note your null hypothesis in a research publication, for the purposes of this assignment, we would also like you to note this in this section to illustrate that you understand the difference between the alternative and null hypotheses.
Research Design
This component should detail your proposed research methodology. This is the ‘how’ of the research proposal – how will the research be conducted? You should break it down into three clear sub-sections with the following headings:
• Participants:
• Who would participants be?
• How would they be recruited?
• Inclusion and exclusion criteria?
• Key demographic details?
• Design:
• What are the independent and dependent variables?
• What are the conditions (groups)?
• Is it within or between groups?
• Materials:
• You do not need to include specific scales or measure here. You need to demonstrate that you have researched what measures you could use to address your specific research question and hypothesis. This does need to be referenced.
For example, if I was looking at a study on traits associated with online romance scammers, I might suggest including a measure of the dark triad traits – in this section, I would justify the use of a scale I found through my literature searches and reference it appropriately.
Section Two: Statistical Analysis and Research Reporting
Statistics Decision Making
Please complete the table below. It states research questions for which you need to identify the IV, type of data, levels of IV, DV and which statistical analysis you would use to analyse the data given the set of parameters provided. (200 words)
Research Question
Design (within/ between)
IV(s)
Levels of IV
DV(s)
Proposed Test
Example:
Dog owners do more exercise than cat owners
Between
Type of Pet
Two levels: cat owners v. dog owners
Amount of time spent doing exercise per week in minutes
Independent samples t-test
People remember words better than images or sounds.
People with depression and within treatment do better than those in the control group over the period of eight weeks
Those who hold a conspiracy mentality and paranormal beliefs will be more likely to engage in COVID conspiracy thinking
Data Analysis and Write-Up
You will be provided with two data sets: a survey-based set of data and an experimental based set of data. Both sets are available in JASP. You should answer the following research questions for each of the data sets:
Set One: Predicting Binge Drinking
• Is there a significant difference between those who have engaged in binge drinking in the past and those who have not on levels of future intention to binge drink?
• Levels of previous binge drinking, attitude, social norm and self-efficacy significantly predict future intention to binge drink?
Set Two: Implicit Association Test
• Is there a significant difference between congruent and incongruent reaction times?
• Is there a significant interaction between ethnicity and implicit association?
For each data set please complete the following (450 words per data set):
• Produce the correctly formatted descriptive and inferential statistics.
• Run the correct statistical analysis in JASP (please include a screenshot of your data set and output in JASP in your appendix to evidence your running of the analysis).
• Report the analysis correctly in APA7 format in relation to the research questions stated above.
Conference Poster
For this component, you must produce a single slide conference poster presentation in PowerPoint. In order to complete this activity, you may use any of the data sets from the worksheets completed in Weeks 5 and 6. You should choose ONE of the data sets only for the poster.
Your conference poster should include a recorded narration – an elevator pitch of 2-3 minutes in length on the main findings of the work. It is essential that this is included – failure to include the recorded narration will result in an automatic fail for this component. You should also include the narration as a written Word or PDF document in order that your marker can ascertain that you are not exceeding the total 700 words for this component (poster + narration = 700 words).
The slides should only contain around 200 of those words maximum, with 500 given over to the narration. The narration should not be included on the slides’ notes sections. It must be a Word or PDF document.
Important Information
Word Counts and Formatting
A note on word counts: All of your word counts carry a 10% leeway. If you are more than 10% over on an assessment, anything past the additional 10% will not be graded. If you are more than 10% under word count, your work will likely not include sufficient depth and breadth of coverage and you risk failing the assignment. Everything other than reference lists, tables and graphs counts in all assessment component word counts.
All work must be submitted in Word, PDF or PowerPoint format. If you submit a different format, you run the risk of it not being marked. You have access to this software for free from the University: https://www.wlv.ac.uk/its/microsoft-365/.
All work should be formatted according to APA 7 www.apa.org and every component should have its own APA 7 formatted reference list.
Extensions and Mitigation
If you require a seven-day extension or are seeking to mitigate your submission to the next opportunity, you must submit an application via e:Vision. Please note that neither online facilitators nor the wider academic team are authorised to grant extensions or mitigation: these are handled centrally by the University. Unless you are using one of your self-certified extension opportunities, you will be required to upload evidence with your application. It is useful to have this to hand digitally when completing the application. More information about this can be found here: Fit to Sit Procedures.
If in doubt, do post on your Q&A discussion board in Canvas or contact your online facilitator for this module.
Marking Criteria
Distinction
Commendation
Pass
Fail
Section One
Relevant and recent literature critically summarised (8%)
Rationale developed from and supported by the literature (2%)
Rationale and justification for outlined methodology (2%)
Methodological plans suitable to answer the research question (2%)
Alternative hypothesis generated from research question/null (2%)
Correct research design to test stated hypothesis, including (8%)
• Design (between/within)
• All relevant variables
• All variable levels
Relevant materials detailed – appropriate to test stated hypothesis (4%)
Section Two
Decision making tree (1% for each correctly completed tabled cell)
RQ one (4%)
RQ two (4%)
RQ three (4%)
Data Analysis:
Set one, question one: correct analysis (4%) and correct reporting and interpretation of analysis (4%)
Data Analysis:
Set one, question two: correct analysis (4%) and correct reporting and interpretation of analysis (4%)
Data Analysis:
Set two, question one: correct analysis (4%) and correct reporting and interpretation of analysis (4%)
Data Analysis:
Set two, question two: correct analysis (4%) and correct reporting and interpretation of analysis (4%)
Poster:
Research background including relevant literature (6%)
Poster:
Research question/hypothesis (2%)
Poster:
Methodology clearly described (2%)
Poster:
Results/findings clearly presented with graphics/table where suitable (2%)
Poster:
Conclusion clear, succinct and appropriate (2%)
Poster:
Narration (elevator pitch) shows clear understanding of research presented (10%)
General
All work submitted (2%)
APA formatting and referencing adhered to throughout (2%)
