APSY211 (3361 & 3556) Spring 2023 Prof. Ivy Tran Specific Aims (DUE 4/13 by 11:5

APSY211 (3361 & 3556)
Spring 2023
Prof. Ivy Tran
Specific Aims (DUE 4/13 by 11:59pm)
At this point, you have come up with a research question, received feedback, and conducted a preliminary literature review (the annotated bibliography portion). You are now ready to identify the specific aims of your project. In other words, if you were to conduct this study in real life (which you will not), what would you hope to find? This portion of the project (due 4/13) will include three parts, described below:
PART 1: Clarify your research question. Using the research question you submitted with the annotated bibliography, consider the following questions. Use the following questions to help you identify which type of claim best fits the question you want to answer: Does your research question ask “how common is X behavior in Y population?” (frequency claim); Does your research question ask “How does X relate to Y?” (association claim); Does your research question ask “Does X cause Y?” (causal claim).
Respond to the following questions in 1-2 sentences each. Respond ONLY to the questions that apply to your specific type of claim:
1. What type of claim are you making?
a. FREQUENCY CLAIMS ONLY: What is your population of interest? What variable are you measuring in this population? Will you use a biased or an unbiased sampling method and why? (e.g. In the claim 87% of UAlbany students chose not to gamble, UAlbany students are the population of interest and the measured variable is gambling)
b. ASSOCIATION CLAIMS ONLY: What are your two measured variables? Is one of your variables categorical? What type of correlation (strength and direction) do you expect? Would you use a scatterplot or a bar graph to represent your data and why? (e.g. In the claim that ice cream sales are correlated to number of violent crimes, ice cream sales and number of violent crimes are both measured variables)
c. CAUSAL CLAIMS ONLY: What is your independent variable? What are the levels/conditions of your independent variable? What is your dependent variable? What are you comparing your claim to? Describe how the three criteria for a causal claim are being met (internal validity, covariance, and temporal precedence). (e.g. in the claim that wearing the thunder jacket causes my dog to be more calm, wearing the thunder jacket is my independent variable and her behavior is my dependent variable. I am comparing her behavior in the jacket to her behavior when she is not wearing the jacket.)
2. How are you operationalizing your variables? Are you using observational, self-report, or physiological data to answer your question? (e.g. There are many ways to operationalize the concept of “mental health”—do you mean a specific diagnosis? Do you mean taking medication or not? Be specific.)
PART 2: Consider the four big validities. Now that you have established what type of claim you are making, consider the four big validities from chapter 3 (external, internal, construct, and statistical). Remember that each of the three claims prioritizes different types of validity.
Respond to the following questions in 1-2 sentences each:
1. How will you ensure that your research question has good construct validity? Why is the data collection method you described above the BEST way to measure your variables?
2. How will you ensure that your research question has good external validity? What sampling method will you use?
3. How will you ensure that your research question has good internal validity? If you are making a causal claim, how will you make sure that there is no confounding variable that better explains the relationship you see?
4. How will you measure the statistical validity of your claim (e.g. correlation, effect size, percentage)?
PART 3: State your hypothesis. Now that you have established the type of claim you are making, described your methods, and considered threats to validity, it is time to state a hypothesis!
A hypothesis is a prediction of the outcome of your study. It may be stated with a specific direction, for example: “It is predicted that people who get 8 hours of sleep will perform higher on a test of memory than those who only get 4 hours of sleep.” Or it can be stated without a direction “It is predicted that getting 8 hours of sleep will be associated with changes in performance on memory tests.”
Your hypothesis should be data-driven—meaning that you should review your annotated bibliography to inform the direction and/or relationship you state in your hypothesis.
State your hypothesis in the general format that matches your claim:
FREQUENCY EXAMPLE: It is predicted that substance use will be more common in individuals with parents who smoke as compared to individuals with parents who do not smoke.
ASSOCIATION EXAMPLE: It is predicted that more frequent substance use will be associated with more severe symptoms of anxiety as compared to individuals with little or no substance use.
CAUSAL EXAMPLE: It is predicted that individuals asked to smoke daily for one week will show more symptoms of anxiety as compared to the group that does not smoke daily for one week.