Generating Research Ideas
Part 3.
Based on the feedback you received for Homework #1, revise the
following information for Homework #1. Make adjustments and corrections
when necessary.
The grade you receive on the revision will take the place of
the grade you received for Homework #1.
Your grade for Homework #2 will be based on your answers to Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6 of this assignment
Be sure to turn in your revision of Homework #1 with Parts 4-6 of
Homework #2
In homework assignment #1 you made and recorded observations similar to the ones you made in class (you can even make the same type of observation). The observations you made were up to you and should have conformed to the following characteristics:
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You have to be able to observe the behavior unobtrusively (the person being observed should not know you are observing them) and ethically
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You should be making observations of two variables that you hypothesize might be related to each other. For example, you might observe the relationship between the variable of gender (male,female) and the variable of cell phone use (texting, talking).
For your observational study, do the following:
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Provide a hypothesis for how you think the two variables you are observing are related to each other (e.g., How differences in gender are presumed to be associated with differences in how the cell phone is used to communicate)
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Provide operational definitions for each of the variables you observed (e.g., operational definitions for male/female and for texting/talking). Remember, your operational definitions should allow you (and anyone else) to observe and to measure your variables of interest.
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Identify the levels of your independent variable.
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Identify which variable is the dependent variable (DV).
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Identify at least three extraneous variables that could cause observed differences in the DV.
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Explain how the extraneous variables could cause changes in the DV.
Go to a location and make 20 observations of your variable of interest (in the example, I only recorded 10) and record them in the following format:
|
Var. 1- Gender
|
Var. 2 - Phone
|
|
Var. 1 Gender
|
Var. 2 - Phone
|
| P1 |
1
|
2
|
S11 |
|
|
| P2 |
1
|
2
|
P12 |
|
|
| P3 |
2
|
1
|
P13 |
|
|
| P4 |
1
|
2
|
P14 |
|
|
| P5 |
2
|
1
|
P15 |
|
|
| P6 |
2
|
2
|
P16 |
|
|
| P7 |
2
|
2
|
P17 |
|
|
| P8 |
1
|
2
|
P18 |
|
|
| P9 |
1
|
1
|
P19 |
|
|
| P10 |
2
|
1
|
P20 |
|
|
Group your findings by variable in a Table, similar to the example below:
| Gender |
| Type of Phone Use |
|
Male |
Female |
|
1
|
1 |
3 |
|
2
|
4 |
2 |
Part 4
Using the data you collected and then reported above, provide
descriptive statistics for your observations.
Organize/group the descriptive statistics to indicate the relationship between both variables (the percentage of men talking on the phone vs. the percentage of women talking on the cell phone, etc.).
If your DV was interval or ratio
Include statistics for both central tendency and variability.
If you used nominal or ordinal data
Provide frequency and percentage information.
Use a table or graph to display the descriptive statistics for your data.
Part 5
Search the Library databases for three articles that are relevant
for the behavior you studied. Paste the abstracts
for each article to this assignment and provide APA style references for each article.
Article #1:
Article #2:
Article #3:
Part 6
Using the abstracts of the articles you found and the social media articles you have been provided in class as examples, provide a one or two paragraph summary of your observation.
Your summary should include the purpose of the study, your hypothesis or research goals, the manner in which the data was collected, the results, and your conclusion.
Be sure to turn in your revision of Homework #1 with Parts 4-6 of
Homework #2
This work by Cynthia Sifonis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
(The overall idea and layout of this homework assignment was based on a homework assignment created by Dr. Christine Hanson of Oakland University)