THIS IS AN OLD (A VERY OLD!) DOCUMENT PREPARED ORIGINALLY FOR SECOND YEAR PROJECTS. SPECIFIC DATES GIVEN IN HERE SHOULD BE IGNORED. REMEMBER THAT YOUR OUTLINE WILL BE SUBMITTED BY EMAIL TO YOUR SUPERVISOR ONCE IT HAS BEEN AGREED. YOUR SUPERVISOR WILL THEN FINSIH THEIR SECTION OF THE ETHICS FORM AND SUBMIT ONLINE gld October 2013
Project outlines
Here are some notes for guidance. Most of this will apply to third year projects as well. You should submit a project outline by Thursday of week 3. (One outline per group.) A project outline should contain the following information:
1) A description of the general area you plan to work in, and the particular issue your project will address.
2) An indication of the nature of your project. Some possible categories are: questionnaire-based, designed experiment, observational.
3) An indication of the hypothesis (or hypotheses) you want to test, or the concepts you want to explore. For example, you may have a specific prediction about behaviour to test, or you may have more general questions about the role of a number of factors in certain types of behaviour.
4) An account of the procedure you will use and a clear statement of the rationale underlying the procedure. In other words, first you need to describe the task you will ask subjects to perform and the way you will administer the task, and second you need to explain how this task will yield relevant information about the underlying psychological mechanisms you are interested in. (This is the most important section.)
5) Who the subjects will be. How many subjects there will be.
6) A brief description of the statistical techniques you plan to use.
7) What kind of conclusions you want to be able to draw from the experiment.
8) When you will carry out the different phases of the project (detailed preparation; running subjects; analysing data; writing up the report).
You must also complete an ethical approval form if your supervisor decides that is necessary.
Hand in your outline, with the cover sheet / completed ethics form via the filing cabinet. The outline will not be graded and does not contribute to the course assessment. Its purpose is to help you plan your project. Typically, outlines will cover one side of A4 paper. Minimum length 150 words; maximum 750.
Your supervisor will decide whether you must complete a full ethics form, to be reviewed by the Ethics Committee. If it does need to be reviewed, the ethics form and project outline must be forwarded to the Chair of the Departmental Ethics Committee by the end of week 3 at the latest. You may not gather data until permission has been granted by your supervisor and by the Ethics Committee (if relevant).
GLD