Group Project 2
Research Project on Health Related Issue
As a major requirement for the course students are required to complete a research project and write a research article dealing with an important issue in health psychology. This project should be completed as a group project. This project should include identifying an important health issue related to the college population; designing a research study including developing appropriate measures; implementing a strategy for recruiting participants; and employing a data analysis strategy. At the conclusion of the project, students are required to write a research article detailing the results of the study.
As an initial step in the process, each group is required to turn in a 1- page prospectus detailing the research topic, a brief discussion of why the study is important, a description of the research plan (including a strategy for recruiting participants), and a time-line for the study. Each group must also turn in a draft of their questionnaire with their prospectus. The prospectus and measures are due in class on Feb. 21.
The final paper should be formatted as follows:
- a cover page with title of the study and authors names and university affiliations
- the proposal must be no longer than 18 double-spaced, 1 inch margins, 12-point font. Not include in the 18 page limit is the title page, reference section, tables and figures.
- the paper must have an 1 page abstract that summarizes the article.
- the article should consist of the following sections: introduction; methods results; discussion; and reference.
- the entire article including the reference section must follow APA format.
The final paper is due at 9:00 in class on April 18. Late papers will be severely penalized.
Format of the Final Paper
Introduction (Suggested 5 to 7 pages)
- introduce the issue(s) to be studied. (What are the research questions?)
- critically review the related research literature. (What have other studies found? What are the limitations of these studies?)
- explicitly list the goals of the study.
- provide a rationale for the study. (Why is this an important question to study?)
- present and support your hypotheses. (What are your predicted answers to the research questions? Why do you believe this?)
Method (Suggested 2 to 4 pages)
- describe subjects. (Who are the participants in the study? Why them? How were they recruited for the study?)
- describe and operationalize the variables of interest. (What are the important variables in the study? How were these variables measured?)
- describe the procedure used to collect data (How was the data collected? )
Results (Suggested 1 to 3 pages)
- describe the mean and standard deviations for the variables in the study (use Table if necessary)
- describe what analysis technique that was used to test your hypothesis.
- present the results of the analyses (use Table or Figure if necessary).
Discussion (Suggested 3 to 5 pages)
- recap the findings in the result section as it relates to your hypotheses (Did the data support your hypotheses?)
- discuss the implications of your findings for future work in this area (What does the study say to future researchers)
- detail the practical implications of your findings. (What are some of the implications of the study for helping college students?)
- what are some of the limitations of the study?
- what have you concluded from this study? (What is the take home message?)
References