Paper II: Table of Contents

Purposes of Paper II: Study One Methods, Results, and Discussion

1. The psychological purpose (Paper overview)

The psychological purpose behind Paper II is to make sure you can tell your reader what you did in your study, how you did it, and what you found. By now you have read several empirical studies in psychology, and you should be familiar with the Methods, Results, and Discussion sections. Now is your chance to write your own Methods, Results and Discussion!

Like the studies you looked at for Paper I, you will provide information about your participants, materials, and procedure in your Methods section. Your participant section goes first, and it includes descriptive statistics about your sample (means and standard deviations for age as well as percentages for gender and race/ethnicity). Your materials and procedure sections include information about what you did and how you did it. You should write this section for an audience who is unfamiliar with your specific study, but assume that they do know research methods. Thus educate your reader about your materials and procedure, giving enough detail so they could replicate the study. This includes explicitly describing your independent and dependent variables and talking about how you presented those variables to your participants. My suggestion is to look over the articles that you summarized in Paper I and see how they wrote their Methods. This will give you a good idea regarding the level of depth and detail you need in your own Methods section.

Your Results section follows. The purpose of this section is to make sure you can show how you analyzed the data and describe what you found. You will have a lot of help in this section from your lab materials (especially your lab powerpoint presentations).

Finally, I want you to include a short discussion of your findings. Tell me if you supported or did not support your hypotheses and explain why you got those results (you can actually speculate here if you like, but make it “educated” speculation!)

2. The APA formatting purpose

The second purpose of Paper II: Methods, Results and Discussion is to once again teach you proper American Psychological Association (APA) formatting for these sections. In the pages below, I will tell you how to format your paper using APA style. There are a lot of very specific requirements in APA papers (as specific as what to italicize), so pay attention to the instructions below as well as the APA formatting lecture presentation!

3. The writing purpose

Finally, this paper is intended to help you figure out how to write a Methods, Results, and Discussion section. Many students find statistics intimidating, but my hope here is that writing this paper will help you understand both the logic and format of statistics in results sections. We will once again give you a lot of feedback and help in this paper, which will be able to revise for your Papers IV and V later in the course. Make sure that you write this for an audience familiar with APA methods and results, but also for someone who needs you to tell them what you found.

Notes About Paper II – Study One Methods, Results, and Discussion

Note #1: The plagiarism limit is higher in this paper (up to 65%) since your classmates are doing the same design. Do not go higher than that, though! 65% is the maximum allowed!

Note #2: You do NOT need to include your literature review / hypotheses in Paper II, as Paper II focuses just on your methods, results, and discussion. However, you will include those Paper I components later in Paper III, so do keep them handy!

Note #3: Again, sorry for the length of the instructions! They are long, but take it one section at a time and you will get all of the content you need for your paper. It also increases your chances of getting a great grade!

Instructions for Paper II: Study One Methods, Results, and Discussion (Worth 35 Points)

The Title Page (1 point)

The title page for your Paper II is identical to the one you used for Paper I: Literature Review Study One. For proper APA formatting, either copy your title page from Paper I or review the title page instructions I gave you in Paper I. You can change your title if you like, but make sure it describes your study (much like a title in PsycInfo describes what the authors did in their paper)

Abstract?

You DO NOT need an abstract for Paper II: Methods, Results, and Discussion (Study One). You cannot write it until you run both study one and two, so omit it for now

The Methods Section (15 points)

1. Formatting the methods section (Page 2).
   1. Write Methods at the top of this page, make it bold, and center it

• The participant section
  • Formatting: The participants section comes next. The word Participants is bolded and left justified.
  • Your participants: Tell me who your participants were (college students, family members, friends?) and how many there were.
  • for relevant demographics.

1. For some variables—like ethnicity and gender—you only need to provide frequency information (the number of participants who fit that category). “There were 100 men (49%) and 105 women (51%) in the study.” Or “The sample was 49% male (n = 100) and 51% female (n = 105).”
   1. Other variables—like age—are continuous (rather than categorical), so use descriptive statistics here (the range, mean, and the standard deviation). “Participants ranged in age from 18 to 77 (M = 24.01, SD = 3.50).” or “The average age of participants was 24.01 (SD = 3.50).” You can find out how to get this information by reading the lab powerpoint and the crash course quiz documents
   1. Make sure to italicize the n, M, and SD (the letters, not the numbers)
   1. Tables: Make sure to include a “callout” to the table. That is, write “See Table 1” at the end of the participant section to direct readers to your demographics table.
      1. Note that the table comes immediately after the callout in-text (not at the end of the paper or in an appendix).
2. The materials and procedure section
   1. Formatting: Include the phrase Materials and Procedure in bold font. This title should be aligned on the left of the page.
      1. There is no set minimum or maximum on the length of the methods section, but I expect at least a page or two (but probably more. Your research script took up several pages – you should provide a similar level of depth and detail in your methods section). Missing important aspects of your IVs and DVs or presenting them in a confusing manner will lower your score.
      1. Make sure that another researcher can replicate your study based on your methods section. If they cannot do so, then you may not have enough detail!
   1. Content: Provide information about your materials and your procedure. I suggest starting with the procedure and discussing the materials in the order in which participants saw them. That is, tell your reader what your participants did in the order that participants did them. Be specific here.
      1. First, talk about the oral informed consent procedure.
      1. Second, talk about the three versions of the Filters survey and the three “Filter Condition: Unfiltered, Filtered or Control”. Provide enough detail so that your readers know how the three conditions differ. Imagine I do not know what you did, but I need to able to replicate your design. YOU need to give me enough detail so I can do so.
         1. I want to stress this “detail” concept – Pretend that I have no idea what you did or what your materials look like, but I want to replicate your study. Thus, teach me your design and your procedures. Be VERY clear and detailed about what you did and how you did it so I can replicate your study design.
            1. If there are advertisements in your survey, describe them. If there are pictures, describe them. If these items are identical across all conditions, note that fact.
         1. Importantly, describe how the surveys differ. That is, you have three versions of the filter survey, with the main difference being whether participants see Sarah post a Filtered, Unfiltered, or Control photo following Katie’s original post.”
         1. Note: At the end of the semester, someone other than your instructor / TA may grade your final paper. They may know NOTHING about Social Media Filters, but they do know methods. Write this section for that methodology expert (but topic novice).
      1. Third, talk about your dependent variables (that is, your survey questions. For these dependent variables, once again provide enough detail so I know exactly what questions you asked. For example, “Participants provided their gender, age, and race”. For other dependent variables, tell me how the responses were recorded (yes/no, true/false, a scale of 1 to 6, etc.). If you used a scale, note the endpoints and descriptors. For example, “Participants were asked, ‘How frustrating was this task?’, and they responded on a scale from 1 (very frustrating) to 6 (not at all frustrating).’”
         1. If you only tell me that the scale was from 1 to 6, I won’t know if a 1 is a good score a bad score. Similarly, if you say the scale ranged from “very frustrating” to “not at all frustrating”, I won’t know if the number 1 relates to the “very” end of the scale or the “not at all” end. Thus, I need BOTH numbers and descriptors.
         1. Your study has a few important DVs (including Katie’s insecurity and satisfaction with her appearance as well as ratings of how supportive Sarah is). Be very specific with DVs like this when (if!) you analyze them.
      1. Fourth, make sure to highlight which specific DVs you analyzed. If there are DVs participants completed but you did not analyze it, feel free to say those that participants completed them but since they were not analyzed, they are not discussed further.
      1. Fifth, make sure to be specific about your attention / manipulation check question! What did you specifically ask? How did you measure participant responses to the manipulation check? Was it multiple choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blank, or a scale? If you don’t tell your reader, they won’t know how you measured that variable.
      1. Finally, mention debriefing. You don’t need a lot of detail here since most researchers understand what goes into a generic debriefing statement
   1. :

The Results Section (10 points)

1. Formatting the results section
   1. Write Results at the top of this section, center it, and use boldface. This section comes directly at the end of the methods section, so the results section DOES NOT start on its own page.
      1. Note that some instructors may not do this Filters study at all, but the results section should follow the same guidelines regardless of your study topic.    
2. The results section content requirements
   1. The results are the hardest part of this paper, and your lab powerpoints can help you (also refer to the crash course statistics quizzes, which walk you through similar analyses!).
   1. For Paper Two, include statistics about the most important variables in your study, including your IV (Filter Condition: Unfiltered, Filtered or Control) and the DVs you feel are most important to your hypotheses. I suggest focusing on at least one Katie dependent variable (whether she is insecure OR satisfied with her appearance) and one Sarah dependent variable (whether she is a good OR supportive friend)
   1. So let me be VERY specific: You must run at least three different analyses on three different dependent variables. One analysis must be an ANOVA (again, I recommend looking at one of the Katie or Sarah statements). The second analysis should also be an ANOVA (where I recommend looking at a different Katie or Sarah statement than the one you looked at in the first ANOVA). The final analysis must be a chi square for Part VI of your survey (which asks participants to recall which picture of Katie they remembered Sarah posting: Katie with a slight stomach roll, Katie with a flat stomach, or an elderly male bodybuilder. This is our manipulation check, which looks at the three answer options).  
      1. Note: Although you can run a t-Test rather than a second ANOVA, I do not recommend it. A t-Test only looks at two conditions, but there are three conditions in your study (Unfiltered, Filtered, and Control), so ignoring one of them does not make empirical sense. Why collect data for three conditions and ignore one of them? So run two ANOVAs (one on a Katie DV and one on a Sarah DV).
      1. If you do use a t-Test, just note that you cannot look at the same DV as your ANOVA. We count the number of DVs that you analyze – NOT the number of statistical tests you run! So, you cannot run an ANOVA on Katie’s insecurity and then run a t-Test on Katie’s insecurity again. That is only one DV. Still, I suggest not running a t-Test at all for this study.
3. The results section and the chi square
   1. Your first analysis will be a chi square, which is used for categorical DVs (yes / no; yes / no / maybe; male / female, or … in our case, “What picture did Sarah post?” from Part VI). So, let’s discuss the chi square, which does not look at mean scores but rather counts how many responses there are compared to how many you would expect.    
   1. The specific question asked, Which of the following best describes the photo that Sarah (the friend) posted? (Select one). The options were Katie with a slight stomach roll, Katie with a flat stomach, and An elderly male bodybuilder. Here, you can run a chi square looking at the frequencies of the three answer options
   1. We are interested in the chi square (χ²) and p value. We also provide percentages for each of our groups (we do not include means and SDs since you need interval data for those statistics). There are two ways to analyze a chi square: 
      1. The easy way: Look at how many participants in each category accurately recall the expectation manipulation.
         1. Significant finding: “Using Filter Condition as our independent variable (Unfiltered, Filtered, or Control) and recall of which photo participants recalled seeing Sarah post as the dependent variable, we saw a significant effect, χ²(4) = 4.49, p = .021. Most participants in the “Unfiltered” condition recalled Sarah posting an unfiltered photo (78% chose “Katie with a slight stomach roll”); most participants in the “Filtered” condition recalled Sarah posting a filtered photo (66% chose “Katie with a flat stomach”); and most participants in the “Control” condition recalled Katie posting a control picture (90% chose “An elderly male bodybuilder”). Cramer’s V was strong for this analysis. This indicates that participants saw our photo manipulation as intended.”
         1. Non-significant finding: “Using Filter Condition as our independent variable (Unfiltered, Filtered, or Control) and recall of which photo participants recalled seeing Sarah post as the dependent variable, we did not see a significant effect, χ²(4) = 1.49, p = .065. Participants did not differ in their recall of which photo Sarah posted. Cramer’s V was weak for this analysis. This indicates that participants did not see our photo manipulation as intended.”  
      1. The hard way: You can also look at “overall correct” vs. “overall incorrect” recall. This is a bit trickier to run in SPSS, since you need to add up ALL those who correctly remembered the correct manipulation (those in the Unfiltered condition who recalled “Katie with a slight stomach roll” + those in the Filtered condition who recalled “Katie with a flat stomach” + those in the Control condition who recalled “A picture of a male bodybuilder”) and compare them to ALL the people who were incorrect in their recall.
         1. In this instance, you would not want the chi square to be significant. That is, you might conclude “There was no difference between those who got the manipulation check question correct across the three different conditions, χ²(4) = 1.49, p = .099.” (In other words, participants were equally correct in all conditions).
         1. My advice is to go with the easy chi square (a. above)
      1. Quick notes
         1. Cramer’s V is required for 3 X 3 designs. Here, we have 3 study conditions and 3 answer options, so 3 X 3. Only use Phi if you have a 2 X 2 study (two conditions and two answer options)
         1. Make sure to italicize the χ and p
4. The results section and the One-Way ANOVA
   1. Since your condition independent variable has three levels (e.g. Unfiltered, Filtered, Control), the most appropriate test is a One-Way ANOVA if your DV is scaled (like a 0 to 10 scale or a 1 to 6 scale). Your lab and lecture powerpoints show you how to conduct an ANOVA, but here are some guidelines I want to give you about how to write your results. Below I walk you through one analysis specific to this paper.  
      1. First, there are several dependent variables to choose from. For my example analysis below, I want to focus on Part II in your survey (Katie ratings). Since each of these five questions are scaled variables that range from 1 to 6 (that is, each uses a least an interval scale) an ANOVA is the best statistical test to run.
      1. Second, given that this study has one IV with three levels and we will look at one DV at a time, a One-Way ANOVA is the best test to use to see if there are significant differences among the three IV levels for that one DV. We look first at the ANOVA table (or F table) and focus on the between subject factor. We note the degrees of freedom, the F value itself, and the p value. (We will get into factorial ANOVAs later in this course, but here we only have one independent variable, so we can use a One-Way ANOVA. Yes, we have three levels to our IV, but it is still only one IV).  
      1. Third, if the p value is significant (less than .05), we have one more step to take. Since our IV has three levels, we need to compare mean A to mean B, mean A to mean C, and mean B to mean C. We do this using a post hoc test (try using Tukey!). Tukey will tell us which of the means differ significantly. You then write up the results. For example, let’s say I ran an ANOVA on the dependent variable in Part II, Statement #1 “Katie seems insecure about her appearance”. My write up would look like the one below (though note: I completely made up the data below, so do not copy the numbers!) …
         1. Significant ANOVA:

Using Filter condition (Unfiltered v. Filtered v. Control) as our independent variable and participant agreement with the statement “Katie seems insecure about her appearance” as the dependent variable, we found a significant condition effect, F(2, 203) = 4.32, p = .032. Tukey post hoc tests showed that participants agreed that Katie seemed more insecure in the Filtered condition (M = 4.56, SD = 1.21) than participants in both the Unfiltered (M = 2.24, SD = 0.89) and the Control (M = 2.23, SD = 0.77) conditions. The Unfiltered and Control conditions, however, did not differ from each other. This supports our prediction that participants would see Katie as more insecure when Sarah’s post made it apparent that the picture Katie posted of herself may have been altered.

1. Note there are lots of possible outcomes. The one above essentially says that the Unfiltered condition differed from Filtered and Control, but that Filtered and Control did not differ from each other (In other words, U ≠ F = C). However, we might also find that none of the three conditions differ from each other (U = F = C) or we might find that all conditions differ from each other (U ≠ F ≠ C), so they all differ. Want to see an example of non-significance? Okay …
   1. Non-Significant ANOVA. Think about this for the Part II, Question #5: “Katie seems narcissistic (egotistical)”. I don’t really expect to see differences for this dependent variable (though I admit I might be wrong). But consider a non-significant write-up …
      1. Using Filter condition (Unfiltered v. Filtered v. Control) as our independent variable and participant agreement with the statement “Katie seems narcissistic (egotistical)” as the dependent variable, we failed to find a significant condition effect, F(2, 203) = 2.32, p = .232. Participant agreement ratings did not differ between the Unfiltered (M = 3.45, SD = 1.21), Filtered (M = 3.24, SD = 0.89) and Control (M = 3.23, SD = 0.77) conditions. This shows that participant agreement that Katie seemed narcissistic were the same regardless of which photo Sarah posted.
   1. Fourth, make sure to italicize the F, p, M, and SD (as in the example)
   1. Pretty simple, right! Again, I suggest using ANOVAs to look at either of the first two Katie statements (Katie seems insecure about her appearance OR Katie seems dissatisfied with her appearance) and either of the first two Sarah statements (Sarah seems supportive or Katie OR Sarah seems to be a good friend). 
   1. As a quick note, we could run an ANOVA on Part IV, Question #1 as well. That question asked people to rate their agreement with the statement that Katie posted a filter of herself. Since the scale ranged from 1 to 6 (an interval scale), we can run an ANOVA. This actually makes for a good manipulation check! Participants in the unfiltered condition should agree with this statement more strongly than those in both the filtered and control conditions (since those in the unfiltered condition will get a chance to see two different pictures of Katie). You are free to try this as a “manipulation check”, but I still require a chi square for Part VI as your official manipulation check for Paper Two   
2. The results section and the t-Test:
   1. If you have only two IV levels (e.g. Unfiltered v Filtered only), things are simpler. However, I do NOT expect (or even suggest) that you to run a t-Test since you have three IV levels.
      1. Note once again that a t-Test looks at differences between only two groups. Again, your lab presentations tell you how to run this, but you can do it on your own as well (you can even run a t-Test if your study originally has three levels to the IV – when you go into the t-Test menu in SPSS, simply click “define groups” and select 1 and 2 (Unfiltered = 1 and Filtered = 2). This lets you look at two of the groups! You could also select “2 and 3” or “1 and 3” where the Control condition = 3).
      1. Rather than an F value, there is a t value in the t-Test data output. There is one number for the degree of freedom, a t value, and a p value.
      1. The nice thing about a t-Test is that because you only have two groups, you do not need a post hoc test like Tukey (you only need that if you need to compare three means. Here, we only have two means, so we can just look at them and see which is higher and which is lower when our t-Test is significant). Then just write it up …  
         1. Significant t-Test: “Using Filter condition (Unfiltered v. Filtered) as our independent variable and participant agreement with the statement “Katie seems insecure about her appearance” as the dependent variable, we found a significant condition effect, t(203) = 7.12, p = .021. Participants agreed that Katie seemed more insecure in the Filtered condition (M = 4.56, SD = 1.21) than participants in the Unfiltered condition (M = 2.24, SD = 0.89)
            1. A quick note here. Look at the means for this t-Test example and the significant ANOVA write-up example on Page 10. The means and SDs are identical. That is because the t-Test and ANOVA both look at the means for the Unfiltered and Filtered conditions for the same dependent variable. That is why you cannot run a t-Test and ANOVA on the same DV, as it is essentially the same statistical analysis.
         1. Non-significant t-Test: “Using Filter condition (Unfiltered v. Filtered) as our independent variable and participant agreement with the statement “Katie seems narcissistic (egotistical)” as the dependent variable, we failed to find a significant condition effect, t(203) = 1.12, p = .128. Participant agreement ratings did not differ between the Unfiltered (M = 3.45, SD = 1.21) and Filtered (M = 3.24, SD = 0.89) conditions. This shows that participant agreement that Katie seemed narcissistic were the same regardless of which photo Sarah posted.
      1. Repeat for other dependent variables  
      1. Make sure to italicize the t, p, M , and SD (as in the example)
3. Statistics order recommendation for the results section
   1. For this paper, start your results section with the chi square (your manipulation check). After all, if your manipulation check shows participants did not pay attention, then there is no need to run any other analyses! Then talk about your main analyses (Your ANOVAs for the Katie and Sarah dependent variables). Make sure the analyses line up with your hypotheses.
   1. There is no page minimum or maximum for the results section, though I would expect it to be at least a paragraph for each dependent variable analysis.

Tables (4 points)

1. Tables overview: I want to make sure you are including the correct numbers in your results section, so I want you to include all relevant SPSS tables for each of your analyses.
   1. Table 1 (Demographics): Include tables for age, gender, and ethnicity.
   1. Table 2 (Chi square): Include tables for your chi square and the crosstabs
   1. Table 3 (ANOVA): Include your tables for your first dependent variable (This must be an ANOVA table, the descriptive statistics table for that ANOVA, and the post hoc test)
   1. Table 4 (ANOVA or t-Test): Include your tables for you second dependent variable (If it is a t-Test, include t-Test tables here. This would involve both the descriptives for the t-Test and the t-Test output itself. Again, I prefer that your second analysis also be an ANOVA and NOT a t-Test)
   1. Table 5 and beyond (If applicable): Not required, but feel free to run additional statistics if you like and add Table 5 or more!
2. Tables Placement:
   1. Although the 7^th Edition of the APA Publication manual allows you to place your tables at either the end of the manuscript (in a series of appendices) or embed them within the text itself, we require the latter placement option. That is, include your table(s) immediately after your table callout.
      1. Participant tables: Include your participant tables (for age, gender, and ethnicity) immediately after the participant section (and before the methods / procedure section).
      1. Chi square tables: You will include your chi square tables (including the crosstabulation table, chi square table, and symmetric measures table) right after the callout.
      1. ANOVA tables: For the ANOVA, once again use a table callout. Then copy the ANOVA tables (descriptive statistics, ANOVA table, and post hoc tables) from SPSS and paste them immediately after the callout.
   1. See the example paper for a visual aide.
3. How to copy table content:
   1. The best way to get tables is to copy them directly from SPSS. In the SPSS output, right click on the table, copy it, and then paste it into your paper after the callout. (If you double click the table in SPSS, you can adjust the width of cells or even delete some of the columns).
   1. Another alternative is to use a “snipping” tool (search “snipping tool” in Microsoft Word to find it). You can highlight an area on any computer page and save it as a picture. Copy the picture and paste it into your table pages. Easy!
4. Table formatting
   1. Make sure to give a proper name to each table (e.g. Table 1) followed by a good description of what is in the table in italics (e.g. Study One Demographics)
   1. Each table is flush left, as is the title. See the example paper for a visual aide
   1. I am not worried if your table spills over onto multiple lines. If it spills over, that is fine. I just need to see the full table and the numbers need to be readable

Discussion Study One (2 points)

Writing Quality (3 points)

Other Helpful Hints

1. Page size: Use 8 1/2 X 11” with all 4 margins should be one inch. You must use a 12-point font in Times New Roman.
2. Supporting documents: Make sure to look at the supporting documents for this paper. Like Paper I, there is a checklist, a grade rubric, and an example paper for Paper II. (Definitely use the Paper II Checklist before you turn in your paper to make sure it is the best paper you can write!, but all will give you more information about what we are specifically looking for as well as a visual example of how to put it all together in your paper). Good luck!

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