RESEARCH PROPOSAL: Planned Analyses
In the next step of your Research Proposal, you will draft a Planned Analyses section. This new section is intended to follow-up on your previous Introduction, Problem Statement and Goals as well as Method sections – you will certainly wish to review your previous work, particularly your research question, variables and hypothesis as a starting point for your Planned Analyses section.
You are strongly encouraged to review our readings and Biweekly Response feedback on experimental design, research questions and hypotheses before you begin. In particular, please review these key concepts: experimental design; between-subjects and within-subjects designs; independent variable (IV) and levels of an IV; dependent variable (DV) and the relationship to the IV; manipulation of the IV; experimental control (of extraneous and confounding variables); and hypothesis testing.
You will then write and submit a written paper in the style of the American Psychological Association (APA format). Your Planned Analyses draft must be from 3-5 pages in length and include in-text citations where appropriate. Please check the Grading Criteria/Rubric for this section. There are two main steps for this project:
STEP 1: Brainstorming an analytic strategy
Based on your Method section and previous brainstorming, you will draft a Planned Analyses section. In your draft, you should follow the sample paper format.
Based on your hypothesis (including operational definitions of your IV and DV) from your Method draft, select the appropriate statistical analysis (e.g., t-test or ANOVA). Consult the PDF, “Reviewing experimental design and choosing the right statistical test” for guidance.
STEP 2: Final draft of Planned Analyses
Sections of Your Research Proposal
You (with feedback from your team) will then decide under what conditions you will either accept or reject the null hypothesis. That is, you will explain how you will use the significance level (p value) to either accept or reject the null hypothesis. In the event you were to reject the null hypothesis, you must provide support for why you would accept your alternative hypothesis, based on how you plan to control for extraneous or confounding variables (and thus establish internal validity for your experiment).
Finally (and importantly!), you must describe possible limitations to your design (either statistically or in more practical terms). Discuss how you will attempt to control for these limitations.
The References section comes last (1-2 pages, if applicable), and begins after a page break. Here you include the detailed citations for each of the articles from professional journals that you referred to in developing your hypothesis. Be sure to use the correct APA format for listing references.