Science of Psychology

Experiment Participation Worksheet

As part of the course, you will be writing a short paper about your experience as a
participant in a research study. You should bring this worksheet with you to the
study. When you are finished, you will get a debriefing form and have the
opportunity to ask the experimenter some questions. Complete this form at that
time. It is very important that you read through this and know what the questions
are BEFORE you complete the experiment. This will help you to be able to complete
this in the relatively short (10 minute) debriefing period.
This worksheet will be submitted along with your paper. It will be very helpful in
writing the paper. You should also bring it along with you if you come to office hours
to discuss the paper.
Part 1. Your impressions answer these BEFORE reading the debriefing or talking to
the experimenter
1. Do you have a guess about the hypothesis of this study? If so what is it?

2. If you had a guess about the hypothesis, do you think it impacted the way you
did the experiment (i.e., were there expectancy effects)?

Part 2. READ the debriefing try to answer these questions based on your
experience and the debriefing. In most cases, the questions should follow the order
that the material is presented in the debriefing (or very close to it). Talk to the
experimenter to address any confusions and to confirm your understanding. Note:
if the experimenter is NOT knowledgeable about the study, ask if someone is
available who IS knowledgeable. If no one is available who can help you, please let
Prof. Lindemann know via e-mail.
1. What is the hypothesis being tested? (note: in MOST cases, you will be
participating in an experiment with IVs and DVs and one or more hypotheses being
tested.)

2. In everyday language explain the theory behind the hypothesis. The debriefing
should explain this. The explanation may include scientific terms you are unfamiliar
with. Do not use them in your explanation on this worksheet. If you do not
understand the description of the theory in the debriefing, be sure to ask the
experimenter for clarification.

3. What are the IVs (independent variables).

4. Which condition did you participate in? You may have participated in all of the
conditions (within-subjects design). If so, indicate that here.

5. What are the DVs?

6. What results would support the experimenters hypothesis?

7. Do you think YOUR results likely fit into the expected pattern? Or do you think
your results DID NOT fit into the expected pattern? (Note: there is probably no way
you can know this for certain. It would just be a guess.)

8. If you think that this was a correlational study and NOT an experiment, be sure to
verify this with the experimenter. This would be unusual. If the study IS
correlational, why is the experimenter using this approach? And what are the
variables being examined?