PSY 120 Alternate Projects To Satisfy  the Research Participation

Students who do not wish to participate as subjects in the department's on-going research projects may fulfill the PSY 120 research requirement by satisfactorily completing the alternate projects described below.

These alternate projects involve relating current newsstand material to research studies described in your text or in lecture.  You are to evaluate statements from a number of papers or articles equivalent to the number of research participation credits required.  One paper equals two credits, the equivalent to participation in a one-hour experiment session. No more than two statements are to come from the same article. Seven (7) satisfactory papers will complete the research requirement in full.

Each evaluation should be at least one typewritten/printed page long (double-spaced) and no more than three pages.  Remember, it is not how much you write, but what you write that counts. 

1. Include a copy of a newspaper or magazine article published within the last year.  This article should concern a topic of interest to psychologists (and to you!).  It is acceptable to get the article from the internet, but please print directly from the site so that the publication information is included in the printout (please do not "cut and paste").

2. On the copy, highlight the statement you intend to evaluate on the basis of research evidence.

3. In your paper, introduce the topic by discussing the highlighted statement in terms of the context of the article and in terms of the interest of psychologists.

4. Describe at least one specific research study from your text or one that was discussed in lecture which directly relates to the statement you are evaluating.  Make specific reference to the text page number or lecture date and identify the study.

5. Discuss the implications of the study results, including your evaluation of:
    a.  Existence and/or appropriateness of controls
    b.  Generalizability from the subjects in the study
    c.  Relationship between the variables studied and the variables in the statement you are evaluating.

6. Specify the independent and dependent variables (where applicable) and indicate what specific inference can be made from the evidence (e.g., can you infer that one variable causes another to change?).

7. Evaluate the original statement on the basis of the research you have discussed.