Investigating Human Behavior: 2000-Word APA BPS Report

Empirical Investigation of Human Behaviour: Writing a 2000-word report using APA guidelines | BPS Et

1. Demonstrate the following knowledge and understanding of the knowledge base of the theoretical underpinnings and accompanying research methods and analyses used to investigate human behaviour.

2. Demonstrate the following skills and abilities - Interpret, report and evaluate the methods and analyses used in an empirical study in relation to theory.

This assignment will require you to write a 2000 word report based on an in-class experiment that will take place at some point during your tutorial sessions. Your report will be structured using the format that is taught to you in both lectures and tutorials and will involve a combination of skills to produce a piece of work that is like an empirical journal article. This report will assess your report writing skills and introduce you to hypothesis testing and descriptive and inferential statistics.

Use information literacy skills to identify relevant and credible sources of information relating to quantitative and qualitative studies from recognised databases that can be summarised, synthesised and incorporated into the reporting of your empirical investigations.

Produce a detailed empirical report using APA report guidelines, following the BPS ethical guidelines, using given quantitative and qualitative methods and analysis that are used in contemporary psychology.

Generate and analyse data using SPSS and qualitative approaches and relate analytical findings to previous research and theories.

	Lower 2^nd – 50-59%	Upper 2^nd – 60-69%	1^st Class – 70%+
ABSTRACT Explains what you did, why you did it, what you expected to find, what you found, what it means. Grade depends on how clearly and completely you summarize the study.	You give a reasonable summary of the study, but some parts could be better expressed.	You give a good summary of the study. You could work on making it more polished.	An excellent Abstract - it covers all the important aspects clearly and succinctly.
INTRODUCTION Should contain a critical evaluation of relevant theories and previous research. Aim and rationale of current study should be clearly presented. This section should be clear, well- structured, and have appropriate hypotheses stated.	The Introduction is generally fine and there is evidence that the topic has been understood. Make sure there are no irrelevant parts and try to include greater critical analysis of the material.	The Introduction is generally accurate, well researched and relevant showing the topic has been understood. To improve you need more of a critique or look into some of the background in greater depth.	An excellent Introduction showing clarity of argument and critical analysis.
METHOD Research design must be identified and justified; variables described (IVs and DVs). Relevant details of participants required. Materials and Apparatus to include relevant details. Procedure should be clear and sufficiently detailed to enable replication.	The Method covers the main areas adequately. More detail is needed in some parts to make it more replicable.	Generally good Method section: it is clear and with appropriate content to all the sections, some attention to clarity would improve it.	Excellent Method section. Clear and succinct.
RESULTS Results should begin with written preamble. General description of results (with Figures where appropriate) should precede statistical analysis consistent with approach and interpreted correctly. Should be succinct with no unnecessary repetition of data.	The Results section covers the basic information with some glitches. See the comments for more details on how to improve.	A good Results section. Some parts may need some tidying to improve the grade.	An excellent results section covering all the main criteria well and succinctly.
DISCUSSION Should begin with relation of the results to the hypotheses. Results should be interpreted critically in relation to research included in Introduction. Methodology and suggestions for future research should normally be discussed.	Discussion relates the results to the hypotheses but there may be misconceptions or irrelevancies.	A good Discussion. The results make sense in terms of the hypotheses and previous research. Some parts could be better expressed or dealt with more fully for a higher grade.	An excellent conclusion. You draw together conflicts and diverse material to present a unified conclusion.
CITATIONS AND REFERENCES. You should include citations for all information. Each citation should have a corresponding reference in the reference section. The Reference section should not have references that were not cited in the text.	Your referencing is generally fine but there are some glitches.	Your referencing is generally good with few errors although there are some minor ones. You demonstrate a range of background reading.	Well done. You have used a range of relevant primary sources and your referencing is excellent.