Social Psychology of Attitudes & Persuasion

RESEARCH STUDY PROPOSAL

Assignment [35% of final grade]:

Create a research study proposal for an experiment in the area of Attitudes. The final
product should be anywhere from 5-8 pages, typed, double-spaced, 12 pt. font (ex. times new
roman), 1-inch margins. Page limit is based on redundancy rather than length. Page limit does
not include title page or references. You do not need an abstract.

A) Study Proposal Introduction 25%

Intro - You will be required to find, read, and incorporate minimum five EXPERIMENTAL
research papers from the last TEN (10) years that pertain to the phenomena you wish to study.
You of course can use non-experimental papers in addition to the 5 experimental papers. You
can use papers older than 10 years, as long as they are still current (they should link/be
anchored by another more recent paper).
The introduction is NOT a summary of all the articles; rather, it discusses the relevant
points of studies relevant to your topic. The purpose of the introduction 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. Basically, it is a rationale or justification
for why you want to do the research.
Good rationales/justifications for research 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 or a separate line of research, 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 and predictions made.

Hypothesis/Predictions – After stating the general question that your study is trying to answer,
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) Method 40%

Participants –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 from intro
psych; from Hamilton Population; personality traits). Justify.

Materials – Describe all materials you will need to do your study. Be realistic but you can use
your imagination. Make sure to give the most detail to the important stimuli in your proposed
study.
Procedure - This section should explicitly state how you plan to actually perform the study (it’s
what the Participants do). Here you will need a detailed layout of 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. Be concise, not verbose.

C) Predicted Results/Discussion 25%

This should include predictions how you believe the study will turn out (predicted
results). This will be straight-forward and dry (no explanation yet). You are not running an
actual experiment, but preparing for it, so there will be no real numbers.

In the discussion you’ll start first with what these results mean and what would be interesting
about that if it did. Next, you’ll state how you believe the results of your study would be of
interest/impact the theory and other researchers. Also, how will it affect the population you are
examining, and the general public – how can the potential results be used in real life. Future
directions, limitations, and questions should also be addressed. Finish with a concluding
statement to wrap it all up.

An APA REFERENCE section should be included at the end (on a separate page) listing all
articles, books, and other media used as a resource for the paper. (5%)

Remember APA7 style! (5%)