Research Paper in Evolutionary Psychology

Due: Thursday May 1^st in class

(20% of final grade)

Task: To design (not perform) an experiment to investigate an unresolved issue in some aspect of evolutionary psychology. This experiment should be credible and feasible such that given the resources (and time) it could be completed by a researcher.

Aim: To encourage you to think about the research methods available to the evolutionary psychologist, to stimulate your thinking on a particular unexplored topic, and to develop your expertise in that topic.

How to develop your idea: In class, and in the text, a number of areas have been covered where there are currently more questions that answers. This is one of the advantages of a focus on an evolutionary perspective - it is so new! I suggest that you to pick an area of research (e.g., male short term mating) and a particular topic within that area (e.g., flirting) that interests you. The area of focus can be one already covered in class or one to be covered in class (or one outside these areas but I suggest you talk to me about it in that case).

Once you have established an area you are interested in, there are two main ways to identify a topic for your paper: (1) Do an electronic search on PsycInfo. These searches can be done through the CMU library from many of the clusters. Search for "evolutionary psychology” and “[your topic]"; (2) Come talk to me, and between us we will narrow your interests to a manageable topic. Once you find one article that interests you, look in the References section at the end of the article--you are likely to find several other articles on the same topic, perhaps even by the same author.

Once you have read more deeply on the topic, you will start to notice that there are many unresolved issues that could (and should) be empirically tested. For example, given the area of “flirting”, perhaps there are no studies that have yet addressed the various forms (touching hair, eye contact, smiling) as “actual” indicators of interest (in fact, some similar studies have been performed). The idea of this paper is that you will design a single study to address any such unresolved issue.

Structure of the paper: The best guideline for the structure and format of your report would be to look at any published psychology paper. Here is a basic outline of the structure of the paper, which should include the following sections.

Title Page. The title should reflect the purpose of the study. The title of your paper should reflect the most important variables in the study and the participant population. For example, “A study of the relationship between flirting and sexual interest in undergraduate students”. Beneath the title, list yourself as the author, using your name. Your affiliated institution should appear below your name. The title page should also include a running head at the top (a shortened version of the title, e.g., “Flirting and interest”.

Abstract. Your abstract should be a brief, comprehensive summary of your paper. I recommend writing it after you have completed the rest of the paper and after you have answered the questions to ensure that your abstract accurately reflects the ideas and finding presented in the paper. It should concisely describe the following (in less than 150 words):

· the research problem (1-2 sentences)

· the participants (1 sentence)

· the procedure (1-2 sentences)

· the major predicted findings (2 sentences)

· conclusions and implications (1-2 sentences)

Introduction. Briefly describe the theoretical context of the study (2 - 3 paragraphs). Discuss research already performed in the area (2-3 paragraphs), and highlight gaps in these studies that leave certain areas unexplained or unresolved. This should lead you explicitly to state the research question and the specific hypotheses to be tested (1 paragraph). Think of the Introduction as a story (fact, not fiction) - that leads the reader to the conclusion that the study you have designed will fill an important gap in our knowledge.

Method. This section covers how the study is performed.

Participants. Who will be tested? Undergraduates? Or will information be gathered from records? TV?

Design and procedure: How will the participants be tested? Will the study be observational? If so, where? Will there be an experimental manipulation with a test and control group? What materials will be used? (1-3 paragraphs)

Results: What are the predicted results? What other results could occur? (1-2 paragraphs)

Discussion: What will the predicted results tell us about the phenomenon under investigation? Will they support and refute various other evidence? Any suggestions for future research? Limitations of the proposed study? (3-4 paragraphs)

References. Include citations, in APA format, for all the sources you use.

After the text of your paper, you should include a References section, where you list the three articles you reviewed and any other references you cite (but NOT references you didn’t specifically cite) in the text of your paper. References for journal articles should be provided as follows (note that the References also should be double-spaced):

Shackelford, T. K., & Buss, D. M. (1996). Betrayal in mateships, friendships, and coalitions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 1151-1164.

References for book chapters should be provided as follows:

Shackelford, T. K. (1997). Perceptions of betrayal and the design of the mind. In J. A. Simpson & D. T. Kenrick (Eds.), Evolutionary social psychology (pp. 73-107). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

References for books should be provided as follows:

Buss, D. M. (1994). The evolution of desire: Strategies of human mating. New York: Basic Books.

Any idea you take from another source should be credited to that source by putting the last name or names and year of publication in parentheses after you present the idea. Alternatively, you can credit the author by last name in the context of the sentence. In this case, you would put the year of publication of the source in parentheses after the author’s last name. Needless to say, don’t plagiarize in your paper. If you are using more than three words in the order in which they were written by the author, you must put quotes around these words and cite the page number and source from which the phrase or sentence was taken. Plagiarism will result in immediate failure of the paper. As a general rule, paraphrase (use your own words) rather than quote directly. Nonetheless, feel free to discuss ideas with other students, but all written work should be your own.

Not including the References page, your paper should be about 8 typed pages. Do not exceed 10 pages. Try to be as clear and concise as possible. You will discover that it is a challenge to write everything you need to write in 8 to 10 pages.

Class presentation. You will be required to present your research ideas to the class in a 5-8 minute talk during the last two weeks of class. The goal of this presentation is to give you practice in orally presenting your work and for you to receive constructive feedback on your ideas before writing the paper. Further details about the presentation will be give to you toward the end of the semester.

An outline of your research proposal is due in class on Thursday February 28. This outline should be one page long, should cover the area to be studied, the hypothesis, and the general strategy for testing the hypothesis.

The paper is due on Thursday May 1^st in class. Anything handed in after class will be considered “late”.

GOOD LUCK!!!! And if you have any questions - ask!!!!

To give you an idea of how you will be graded, I have included here part of the grading sheet for the paper:

Title

1) Too long.		2) Too short.	3) Too vague.	4) Too specific.
5) A good title.	6) Try to include the subject population, e.g., “psychology students”.
General:

Abstract

1) Length: a) Too long. b) Too short. c) A good length.

2) Excessively detailed/brief. Supply outline of procedure, main results and principal conclusions.

4) Not clear: should be intelligible without having to read the report first! 5) Too many stats outlined here.

General:

Introduction

1) a) Relevant background information is well presented.

2) a) Not enough background information. b) Draw on more references.

3) Theory behind previous studies is well presented.

4) a) Provide more theoretical detail. b) Present conflicting theories where available.

5) Do not present too much methodological information about previous studies unless it is directly relevant, for example. when using the same methodology in this study.

6) a) Do not include too much trivial information. b) More specific level of information needed.

7) It is not enough just to provide a list of previous studies. You need to use only essential information and relate it to this study.

8) a) What was the reason for running this study? Is it a replication of a previous experiment or is there something new about it? b) Justification for study is clearly presented.

9) a) State hypotheses (or aims) at the end of the section in an informal way. b) You do not need to state the “null hypothesis” because it is implied by the experimental hypothesis. c) Hypothesis well stated.

10) a) The structure of this section is confusing. b) A well structured section.

11) Length: a) Too long. b) Too short. c) A good length

General:

Method

1) Participants: a) Who are they? b) Age? c) Male/Female ratio d) Why were subjects participating in this experiment? ef) Were subjects naive about the purpose of the experiment?

2) Apparatus: a) What apparatus was used? b) Give examples of stimuli, (e.g., pictures, questions).

3) Design: a) Justify experimental design where necessary b) How were subjects allocated to different groups (e.g., random, by sex) c) Present independent and dependent variables clearly.

4) Instructions: a) What instructions, if any, will be given by the experimenter?

5) Procedure: a) Be more specific about what the participants actually did. b) How long did the experiment take. c) Were there any time constraints.

6) a) You have included too much unnecessary information. b) You have not included enough information. c) You have presented the right level of information. d) Use headings to separate each section

7) a) Present the hypothesis or hypotheses formally within this section. b) Hypothesis well presented.

8) This section does not provide enough information to allow the experiment to be replicated.

General: