Reference no: EM133525073

Introduction to Psychology

Assessment Task: Lab Report Part

Assessment task (AT2): Lab Report Part B is the Results, Discussion, and Abstract sections of a laboratory (lab) report.

As discussed in the early seminars, a lab report is a way of presenting the rationale, methodology, results, and interpretation of a study that aims to answer a specific research question. In AT1, you wrote the Introduction and Method sections. Following on from AT1, AT2 completes the lab report with the Results, Discussion, and Abstract sections.

This guide provides you with the results for your study and has everything you need to know to finish off your lab report.

In addition to engaging with this document, you will need to engage with the following:

1. Lab report videos
• We have created a series of videos that introduce you to the core aspects of a lab report and how to write each section. You will need to watch particular videos before attending certain seminars.

2. Weekly 1.5-hour seminar
• Within the seminars, we will practice the skills that the corresponding lab

report videos introduce you to. They are also an opportunity for you to ask your tutor questions in order to do well on this assignment task.

In the videos and seminars, you will learn that a lab report is a scientific write up of a study you have conducted. In this case, we have conducted the data analysis for you and presented you with the statistical output you need to write your Results and Discussion below.

1. To learn how to engage with scientific evidence, and understand what information is trustworthy
• This is achieved by reading and evaluating prior studies and by simulating the experience of conducting your own study (which we will provide you the details of), so that you can gain insight into how studies are actually conducted and discover their potential limitations and strengths.
• Understanding this will help you not just if you choose to become a researcher in the future, but also if you choose to become a psychologist of any kind, because all psychological practice needs to be evidence based, i.e., psychologists help people by using what has been demonstrated to be effective by science. Even if you choose to not be a psychologist, you will gain a better understanding of how to know what information in the world is trustworthy, which is useful for day-to- day life and in many fields.

2. To learn how to communicate effectively
• Written communication is one of the most important skills you will develop at university. This lab report will teach you how to synthesise and evaluate information in order to draw your own conclusions and communicate them to the reader. This is a skill that is challenging and takes time to develop, which is why we want to start teaching you this as early as possible.

Learning outcome 1: Develop research literacy, by sourcing and understanding appropriate journal articles relevant to a research topic

Learning outcome 2: Accurately interpret and present statistical output from an empirical study in the form of a written report.

Learning outcome 3: Develop critical thinking in evaluating the findings and communicating the limitations and implications of an empirical study in the form of a written report.

Study information

Data for this study were collected via an online survey in Weeks 0-2 of the trimester from the HPS121/HPY713 T2 2023 cohort of students.

Background information

Self-compassion has been identified to be an important contributor to a person's resilience. It involves being warm and kind to ourselves (self-kindness), understanding that mistakes and suffering are common amongst all humans (common humanity) and observing thoughts and feelings as they are, without exaggeration or suppression (mindfulness). Interestingly, there is some evidence to show that individuals high in self-compassion may also have better wellbeing. Specifically, we investigated two different types of wellbeing - hedonic wellbeing (i.e., happiness and contentment) and eudaimonic wellbeing (i.e., meaning and purpose in life) - and whether self-compassion related differently to each type.

Lab report structure

Part B of your lab report includes the following sections, in this exact order: Title page, Abstract, Results, Discussion, and References. See below for more details of what is required in each.

Title page

• Must follow guidelines for an APA style cover page.
• This must be the first page of your assessment and be one page in length.
• Must include a unique title that you come up with to represent the study.
• It must include your unique title, your name, your student number, the unit code and the assessment (AT2: Lab Report Part B), your unit chair, the date you submitted, and the final word count.
• You should also include a page number on each page of the assessment.

Abstract

Your abstract is a short overview of all the sections in your lab report. For HPS121 students, the abstract has a word count of 200 words, included within the overall word count of 1200. A good abstract will briefly and concisely answer the following questions:
• Why is the topic important and what does past research say, as a whole?
• What is the aim of the study?
• Who were the participants and what did they do?
• What were the key findings, and did they support your hypotheses?
• How do the findings fill a gap in the literature and how might they be useful in the real world?

Results

The following information should be conveyed in the Results section in a concise, organised, and informative manner, with correct APA formatting.
Mean scores on the scales

These give an indication of whether participants score high, moderate, or low on the scales on average. You need to know the scale end points from your method section to interpret these. Remember to round these statistics to either 2 or 3 decimals.
• Self-compassion: Mean = 2.7956; Standard deviation = .65007
• Hedonic wellbeing: Mean = 5.5670; Standard deviation = 1.12195

• Eudaimonic wellbeing: Mean = 5.5271; Standard deviation = 1.29067

Correlations

The p-value tells us the significance of the relation between the two variables (i.e., is it a significant correlation or is there no significant relation?). The r tells us the strength (i.e., weak, moderate, or strong) and direction (i.e., positive or negative) of the significant relations (note: Do not interpret r for non-significant relationships).
• Eudaimonic wellbeing and self-compassion: r = .504, p = .034
• Hedonic wellbeing and self-compassion: r = .462, p = .078

Discussion

The discussion is where you provide an interpretation of your results, integrate them with past literature, and reflect on the limitations and implications of your findings, as well as possible directions for future research.

The first paragraph should restate the aim and the findings, and state whether the findings support the hypotheses.

Then, there should be one paragraph for each hypothesis/finding that answers the following:

• Restate the finding: What did you find?
• Interpretation of the finding: What does this finding mean in plain terms?
• Explanation of the finding: Why do you think this finding occurred?
o If finding is in line with prediction, reiterate rationale from Introduction and articulate what it adds that previous literature didn't show
o If finding is not in line with prediction, need to provide alternative explanation
• Research implications of the finding: Is the finding consistent with past literature?
o If it is consistent, what does it add that previously literature does not show?
o If it is not consistent, why might your findings be different from previous?
• Real-world implications of the finding: How can the findings be used to help people in the real world, or to solve the problem you initially identified?

Then you should have a paragraph that covers at least 2 limitations of your study. You need to not only mention the limitation, but also explain why it is an issue/how exactly it limits the findings, and what you think could be done differently to overcome the issue. Either in the same paragraph or in a new one, you should also provide at least 2 directions for future research. These suggestions should be about logical follow up research questions, based on what you know now from your study.

Finally, you should have a conclusion paragraph that summarises the key takeaways from your study, i.e., what has been learned from your study and why it is important.

*Important note: To learn more about how to structure and write your lab report, you will need to watch the lab report videos and attend your seminars.
References

Provide an APA 7th edition style reference list of all the articles you included.

Attachment:- Psychology template.rar