PSY305 End-of-Course Assessment January Semester 2025 SUSS : Cognitive Psycholog-Exploring the Mind, Singapore

Answer ALL questions.

Experimental Report: Change Detection (100 marks)

Prepare an experimental report based on the CogLab “Change Detection” experiment. Examinerelevant theories and empirical research findings to prepare the report. Discuss the experimental results provided (PSY305 SPSS Output Jan25) to address the following research question: Are drivers better at detecting change compared to non-drivers?
The experimental report must be presented in APA format and include the following sections:
• Title
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Method (Design, Participants, Apparatus/Material, Procedure)
• Results
• Discussion
• References
• Appendix

ADDITONAL GUIDELINES

1. Attempt the CogLab experiment for this ECA to refresh your memory about the details of the experimental process.
2. Carefully review the following documents in Canvas under Modules:
• Report writing guidelines
• Narrated PPT presentation on ANOVA
• [Optional] PDF files of the relevant sections of Chapter 10: Analysis of variance with more than one IV are also available for those who wish to find out more about the statistical test: Dancey, C. P. & Reidy, J. (2004). Statistics without maths for psychology (3rd ed.). Pearson.

Experimental Report Outline

Title (3 marks)
Think of an appropriate title for your experimental report. The title should give the reader a good idea of what the main variables or theoretical issues under investigation are and the relationship between them. It should not be too long. Have a look at published journal article titles to get ideas for how to write an appropriate title for your experimental report.
Note:
• Do not begin with “An experimental report on…”
• Do not use the research question as the title.
• Do not report the results as the title.
• Do not get overly creative to the point where there is no relationship between the title and the experimental study.

Abstract (10 marks) [word limit = 100]
The Abstract is a summary of the entire study in a nutshell. Be as concise as possible and write within the word limit. It should contain key aspects of the study that informs the reader about the aim/purpose of the experiment (do not include theoretical background information), research hypotheses, experimental design, results (exclude statistical results), and a concluding
statement about the implications of the experimental results.

Introduction (25 marks) [word limit = 600]
This section introduces the theoretical background and empirical research studies that form the bases (i.e., rationale) of the research hypotheses. It should be made clear to your reader what the specific research question is, and the experimental rationale should be expressed clearly in this section. Do not go into the operational details of your own experiment in this section as
these should be left for the Method section. When reviewing research articles, be discerning about which bits of information are relevant and useful in supporting your write-up. They should logically lead to your experimental hypotheses.
Examine relevant theories and research findings and present a minimum of five citations in your Introduction. You will then discuss your experimental results in relation to these studies later in the Discussion section.
Here are some questions to consider when conducting your literature review:
• What are the main findings of change detection studies?
• What is the relevance of measuring both response accuracy and response latency in change detection tasks?
• What relevant findings are there concerning drivers and change detection?
Experimental hypotheses: Remember that your literature review should logically lead to the experimental hypotheses – there should be three (H1, H2, and H3). They should be written up clearly at the end of the Introduction section. The first experimental hypothesis (H1) predicts the main effect of the first independent variable (IV1). The second experimental hypothesis (H2) predicts the main effect of the second independent variable (IV2). For each of these predicted main effects, you need to state the direction of the predicted effect (e.g., which condition is expected to show, depending on what the dependent variable is, faster/slower response times or higher/lower response accuracy). The third hypothesis (H3) predicts an interaction between the two IVs – this interaction needs to be thought through carefully and written out clearly. Finally, do note that for each experimental hypothesis, there is a
corresponding null hypothesis which predicts the status quo. In other words, the null hypothesis predicts no effect and no interaction.
Method (10 marks) [word limit = 250]
The Method section contains information that explains exactly what you did in the experiment, to the reader.
Design
State whether your experiment is a within‐participants, between‐participants, or mixed design. If it is a mixed design, state which of the variables is the within-participant variable and which is the between-participant variable. State the independent variables (IVs) and the levels within each IV. Finally, state the dependent variable (DV).

Participants
Provide a very brief description of the participants who took part in the experiment; the number of participants, the population from which they were drawn, age or age range, gender breakdown if available or relevant, etc. Any other relevant information about them should also be stated. Similarly, information that is irrelevant to the experimental study, such as occupation,
income, education level – should be excluded. It is not necessary to state whether participants had normal or corrected-to-normal vision unless a visual acuity test was conducted for verification. Do also note that we did not employ random assignment.
Apparatus/Material
State which online CogLab experiment was administered using a computer with internet access and provide the URL (not the Canvas MindTap link) to the specific CogLab experiment.
Procedure
The procedure should be described clearly, concisely and with just enough detail for others to replicate your study. Do not copy, word-for-word, the procedure presented in CogLab as it is too lengthy and too detailed. Summarise the procedure appropriately and write it up succinctly in your own words with minimal reliance on the wordings in CogLab. You should provide
details about the number of trials in each experimental condition, the order in which the trials were presented (whether in a particular sequence or randomly mixed), how the participants were required to respond to the stimuli, and how the responses were measured. Remember to write the Procedure section in past tense as you are writing about something that has already been completed.
Results (10 marks) [word limit = 250]
The results should be written up based on the experimental results provided in the following file: PSY305 SPSS Output Jan25
There are two parts to the Results section:
1. The first part covers the descriptive statistics. The group summary data can be found in the SPSS output file. Use the data provided to prepare the table of means in APA format.
Do not start this section immediately with the table, but rather, with a brief description of the summary data, highlighting the key findings, as presented in the table of means.
Although the summary results may sometimes be displayed as a graph with an
appropriate caption in APA format, for the purpose of this assignment, it is sufficient to just present the table of means.
2. The second part of this section covers the inferential statistics (statistical results). State the type of ANOVA that was used to analyse the results. In this case, there are two IVs, so this is a two‐way ANOVA, and there should be three sets of results – the two main effects and the interaction.
For each effect, provide the statistical test value (F), the degrees of freedom, and the probability value (p) and present them in APA format (see examples below). The F‐ value in ANOVA is always positive, so it does not give any indication of the direction of the effect. If the effect is found to be statistically significant, you need to check the mean scores of the relevant conditions from the table of means to see if they actually match the hypothesis. You should bear in mind that a significant effect could possibly be due to results that go against what your hypothesis predicted. In such cases, you would need to reject the experimental hypothesis and discuss the possible reasons for
this outcome in the Discussion section. Remember to correctly state whether the experimental hypotheses were accepted or rejected, and whether the null hypotheses were rejected or failed to be rejected.
The following are some common ways of reporting ANOVA results:
• There was no main effect of position of number, F(1, 21) = 2.21, p = .081.
• Significantly more numbers in the tone suffix condition were recalled than numbers in the speech suffix condition, F(1, 21) = 0.94, p = .035.
• There was a significant interaction between position of number and type of suffix, F(1, 21) = 4.76, p < .001.
Note: Where p = .000, it should be presented as p < .001

Discussion (30 marks) [word limit = 600]
The main purpose of this section is to discuss the statistical results (and not the raw data presented in the table of means) with respect to the research question and hypotheses set out in the Introduction, and consequently, the theoretical implications of the results. Supported by the results of the statistical analysis, this section should start with the interpretation of any
significant results of the experiment in terms of the research problem. If there is a significant interaction, then you should focus on the interaction rather than the main effects. In some cases, the interaction may be significant while one or both of the main effects are not. Or you might find that there are main effects but no interaction. Discussing the lack of significant interaction
or main effects can be just as interesting. You must relate the results back to the findings of previous research that you presented in the Introduction. No new literature should be introduced in the Discussion section. In other words, you should not discuss any study that was not introduced or mentioned in the Introduction section.
It is important to note that the purpose of experimental research is not just to look for significant effects. Rather, the goal is to answer the research question. Hence, after you have explained your results to the best of your ability, you should then analyse the various findings in relation to the more general theoretical issues and controversies outlined in the Introduction.
Even if you get significant results that match the hypotheses, you still need to double check for other possible confounds. If there is no significant result, then you will need to consider various possibilities based on the whole pattern of results. Firstly, try to come up with a coherent interpretation of the whole pattern of results. Next, consider whether there might be any problem with the experimental design, or in the execution of the experiment. If you suspect
something is wrong, suggest how this might be addressed in a subsequent study.
A separate Conclusion section is not necessary as concluding statements can be made at the end of the Discussion section. The concluding paragraph should contain the implications of experimental results in relation to the experimental hypotheses and implications for future research which addresses questions unanswered in your study. Any suggestion made for future research should have a basis, whether it emerged from the findings of your study or from related past research studies. Avoid making suggestions for future research for the sake of it. It is better not to make suggestions that have no basis.
References (5 marks)
All sources cited in the Introduction need to be listed in the References. A minimum of five (5) citations is required in the Introduction section (refer to the instructions in the Introduction section). Apply the APA format as described in the “PSY Referencing Guide”.
There will be no awarding of 1, 2, or 3 marks.
5 marks: Perfect use of APA style. Demonstrates a thorough understanding of APA format and referencing conventions. A minimum of 5 academic references are cited.
4 marks: Near perfect use of APA style. Demonstrates a very good understanding of APA format and referencing conventions. A minimum of 5 academic references are cited.
0 marks: Fails to meet the above requirements.
Appendix (2 marks)
Label the Appendix appropriately and append the entire content of the PSY305 SPSS Output file.
APA format: Student Paper (5 marks)
• Present the experimental report in APA format: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammarguidelines/paper-format
• Refer to the APA quantitative study student paper as a guide: https://apastyle.apa.org/stylegrammar-guidelines/paper-format/quantitative-study-student-paper.docx
Originality of the experimental report
Content that is found to be similar to AI-generated output or similar to other students’ work will be penalised for lack of originality.
English competency (Deduct up to 5 marks)
No marks are allocated to English competency, but a penalty of up to 5 marks will apply for errors.
1-2 marks penalty: Minor errors present, such as typos and spelling or punctuation mistakes.
3-5 marks penalty: Major errors or a fair number of minor errors present, such as spelling or punctuation mistakes, or use of colloquial and/or non-academic writing style.