Step 1 and 2 has been completed and the partial paper is in the attachments. Please see the attachment and instructions for the everything paper and complete Step 3 and please do not worry about step

The Everything Paper

Key Learning Objectives. Upon completion of this assignment, you should know how to:

1. Read and accurately summarize scientific literature in psychology

2. Evaluate the four big validities (construct, statistical, internal, and external) of studies and claims

3. Analyze a study or a claim by applying the three golden rules for causation

4. Articulate the strengths and limitations of various research designs and their appropriate statistical analyses

5. Demonstrate effective written communication skills, including use of APA style and professional writing conventions

6. Integrate material discussed during the entire semester to evaluate scientific sources

This assignment will assess your integration and application of knowledge from the entire semester, including the 4 big validities, the 3 criteria for causation, and APA style. This paper deals with the 2 studies that we read for Article Worksheet #5 on familiarity and attraction (STUDY 2 from Norton et al., 2007; STUDY 1 from Reis et al., 2011). To make this paper manageable, you will complete the paper in smaller sections before turning in the ENTIRE Paper Portfolio at the end of the semester. See Structure of the Paper for page limits for each section.

Structure & Details of the Everything Paper

Correctly Formatted APA style Title Page (1 page)

• Includes title of paper, author name, department & institutional affiliation, course & instructor name, date

• Check APA style lecture, online guide

Introduction (½ page maximum)

• Start on new page

• Your thesis statement (main argument of the paper); this will be about which paper is superior, more valid

• Explain what is to come in the body of the paper

Summary (1½ page maximum)

• A description of the articles’ purpose and main hypotheses

• A clear statement of the study’s variables and design: Experimental or correlational? What were the main IVs and DVs and how were they operationalized? Who were the participants?

• A clear description of the study’s procedure

• Description of the main results (including APA style results statements) and the authors’ conclusions

• Make sure to use in-text citations

Critique (1½ page maximum)

• Interrogate the articles using TWO of the four Big Validities. One of your validities MUST BE INTERNAL VALIDITY and the validities you select for both articles must be the same. (See big four validity descriptions on next page)

  • Internal validity (must choose this as one of your two)

  • External validity

  • Construct validity

  • Statistical validity

Argument (½ page maximum)

• After critiquing the two studies on the two validities of your choosing, compare and contrast the two articles on the two types of validity: What are the strengths & weaknesses of each?

• Then, make an ARGUMENT for which study is superior, or more valid. Use evidence from your critiques.

• Think about what you have learned about how researchers have to prioritize and weigh validities.

Conclusion (½ page maximum)

• Reframe and revisit your thesis statement and summarize your paper

• What are some future directions? That is, make at least one concrete suggestion for a study that can be conducted in the future that addresses the shortcomings of one of the articles.

Correctly Formatted APA style References Page (1 page)

• Start on new page

• Correct heading, formatted correctly

• Reference page includes perfect citation of article

• Check APA style lecture, online guide

BIG FOUR VALIDITIES

Internal validity (must choose this as one of your two)

• Can the study support a causal claim? Does it intend to?

• First, state what specific causal claim the researchers wish to make (if it’s an experiment) or might wish to make (if it’s a correlational study).

• If it’s an experiment, apply the three criteria for causation and explain whether or not each rule is established in each article. If not, what is your overall evaluation? Can they make a causal claim?

• If it’s a simple correlational study, apply the causal rules anyway, and describe why you can’t make a causal statement. Can you think of any other alternative explanations?

• When you discuss internal validity, remember the criteria that you MUST have in order to establish internal validity.

• Before criticizing for alternative explanations, remember that a confound is a problem with systematic variability (a true confound) and not unsystematic variance (an obscuring factor). So, if you think that some people in the study might have been in a bad mood, that will not be a confound unless people in only one group were in a bad mood, and the others were not.

External validity

• To whom or to what other contexts can the results of each study be generalized?

• External validity addresses two issues. To whom (if anyone) can the results be generalized? And to what other situations or settings? Remember that it’s more about how a sample is drawn (random sampling) than how many people are in it, that determines external validity.

• Also, remember that in many studies, external validity is not the first priority. Your evaluation should acknowledge this and explain why.

Construct validity

• Evaluate the measures and manipulations used in each study.

• What are the variables in the study (IV, PV, DV)? How was each variable operationalized (measured/ manipulated in what way)? Be specific in your descriptions.

• After you describe each measure or manipulation, indicate any reliability and validity information provided in the article. Is this a feasible operationalization of the variable (face validity)? Does the article mention past studies that used this operationalization?

• Based on this information, give your assessment—is each measure reliable and valid? If such information is NOT included, then evaluate that—what would you like to see? Are there better operationalizations that you could suggest?

Statistical validity

• Evaluate how strongly the results support their argument.

• Are the major effects statistically significant? What does this mean?

• For each major result, evaluate its effect size to the best of your ability. State the effect size if it’s given in terms you understand. (If it’s a statistic you don’t understand, reach out to me or your lab instructor!)

• As you evaluate statistical validity, discuss how strongly and how well the results pattern supported the authors’ hypotheses. See if you can evaluate how strong the result is in some “real world” terms, like an increase in IQ points or a weight loss of some number of pounds, or a reaction time in seconds.

Grading Criteria & Notes

PERFECT APA Style: Except for the inclusion of an Abstract, your paper must conform to APA style (7th edition), including having page numbers, a title page, and a references page with complete citations for any source cited in your essay. All in-text citations should also follow APA style formatting. If you are unsure what APA style calls for regarding some aspect of your paper, refer to the lecture on APA style on iCollege, or the Purdue OWL site for APA style.

PLAGIARISM: Plagiarism of any kind will result in you being reported for academic misconduct and earning a 0 for the assignment. Make sure that you paraphrase and cite all content from your sources appropriately. You may not use direct quotes from any source for this assignment.

PROOFREADING: You are expected to thoroughly proofread your paper and/or have it proofread by another qualified person before you submit it for grading. This includes checking for proper grammar, spelling, and word usage.

GENERAL NOTES & TIPS:

• Don’t procrastinate! This paper cannot be completed quickly at the last minute, nor can the individual steps that must be submitted prior to your final paper.

• Steps 1-3 will be accepted up to 5 days late, with 10% deducted for each day they are late.

• Because grades are due in the first week of August, Step 4 (your final paper) will only be accepted up to 3 days late (until the end of July), also with 10% deducted for each day that it is late.

• If you have any questions, email me or your lab instructor and/or come to virtual office hours.

• Write clearly & concisely - avoid wordiness.

• Make sure there is a good flow in the paper.

• ALWAYS cite work that is not your own.

• Check APA style! Don’t forget in-text citations.

RUBRICS: A rubric for each step of the Everything Paper is available on iCollege. I strongly suggest using these to score your own assignments before submitting them to see if there are anything is missing or needs more work.