PSY328 Psychology and the Law

Create a research study proposal for an experiment in the area of psychology and law.

A)Study Proposal Introduction

1. Literature review - The purpose of a literature review is to inform the reader of the existing studies and evidence concerning your proposed area of research.  It also sets the groundwork for potential methodologies (how the study was conducted) that you may want to consider when designing your own study procedure.  Good literature reviews usually start by 1) introducing a topic generally, 2) then stating some confirmatory evidence of the phenomena to be studied, 3) then stating some contradictory or ambiguous evidence, 4) then stating the areas where evidence is lacking, and finally, 5) stating the general question to be answered with this study and the specific hypotheses to be tested. A literature review is NOT a summary of all the articles, rather, it is an introduction discussing the relevant points of studies relevant to your topic. You will be required to have at least four EXPERIMENTAL research papers in your references but there are no upper limits to the number of sources or other types of sources you wish to include.

2. Predictions - State the general question that your study is trying to answer. Then, state the specific hypotheses or predictions that you have towards the independent variable(s) you are manipulating and the dependant variable(s) you are measuring

B) Methodology

1. Participants – List the proposed population you wish to study, the sample size, sampling procedure and any specific characteristics about participants in your study (e.g., all male, all inmates, all hospital diagnosed schizophrenics).

2. Materials – List all materials you will need to do your study (e.g., anxiety scales, computer programs, access to court records, trial or trial reconstruction video tapes, ect . . .   USE YOUR IMAGINATION!).

3. Procedure - This section should explicitly state in as much detail as possible how you plan to actually perform the study.  Here you will need a detailed layout of exactly what will happen to a participant from the moment they arrive to the moment they are debriefed about the study before leaving.  Detail is important as other researchers may want to try to test your claims and replicate your study if there are interesting results. You may want to include Appendices with scripts of what will be said to participants or examples of what participants will experience (this will not be necessary for all studies).  Try to explain the procedure in a clear and simple way that seems logical and realistic.

C) Discussion

This should be a brief conclusion to state how you believe the study will turn out, why you believe this will be the case, and what would be interesting about that if it did.  State how you believe the results of your study would be of interest to the population you are examining, other researchers, and the general public. A REFERENCE section should be included at the end (on a separa