Writing an Introduction / Personality & Risk Taking

Lab 5 PSY 395 Fall 2013

Introduction Purpose

• Answers important questions – Why is the problem important? – How does the hypothesis relate to the problem? – How does the experimental design relate to both

hypothesis and problem?

Tips for Starting • Do an outline

– First think about ideas you want to include – Then think about any questions the reader might

ask about your statements

• Look at the APA style outline and sample

paper on the Purdue OWL website. – https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560

/18/ – “Sample APA Paper” posted on Angel

Introduction Structure

• Introduce the problem – Answer the question of why we care about problem

• Develop the background – Talk about what previous studies have done to examine the

problem (the first thing you do for your Lab Report 3 should help here)

• Explain the hypothesis – Using developed background, talk about how the study

answers the problem • List the hypothesis (predictions about the

relationship between the IV and DV)

Organization: Funnel Technique

Broad and General Introduce the topic/problem

Past Research What has been done in the past? Bring together in a coherent way

Narrow and Specific How does your study add to

the past research? End with

hypothesis

General Organization

• First Paragraph – Broad Introduction

• Middle Paragraphs – Literature Review

• Final Paragraph – Present Research

First Paragraph

• Broad Introduction – Introduce research area – Discuss why it’s important – Briefly touch on what specific part of research

area the paper is focused on

Middle Paragraphs

• Literature Review – Read the literature. The first part of your Lab 3 Report

should help (coming up with your hypothesis and conducting a literature search for 3 supporting articles)

• Avoid broad review articles or overly technical papers

– Provide necessary information • Specific enough that reader has all the information needed • Displayed in a manner that is clear and concise

– Cite papers correctly (HINT! Looking at the APA paper example on Purdue’s OWL website will help a lot!)

Middle Paragraphs

• Structure – Begin with broad review of literature

• Define the constructs in question and the variable you are comparing it to

– Connect information to what is being done in the present study

• Present study should be understandable from past research • How does the hypothesis that you come up with connect?

– Explain why the present study gives a new understanding to the literature

Final Paragraph

• Present Research – Introduce specifically what the study focuses on

• Do not go into methods, that is for next section in your paper

– State the hypothesis (IV/DV) • What is it you hope to find from this research study

(prediction)

Introduction Organization • By end of first paragraph, I should have a general idea of what

your paper is about

• Each paragraph should have a purpose – Separated into ideas – Developed logically – Leads into next paragraph – Everything closing in on your hypothesis

What research to include? • Did you make a claim?

– Be sure to support with research

• Do you have an article that is not relevant or hard to understand? – Don’t include the irrelevant article – Probably shouldn’t include the technical article

• Do you have a “theory” paper?

– Shouldn’t use – Theory papers are broad reviews of literature – Should focus on empirical research

In Text Citation • APA journals use author then date method of

citation – https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560

/03/

• Changes depending on author and type of publication – One Author – Two Authors – Three to Five Authors – Six or More Authors

Author Numbers

• When one author, always cite the name and year • When two authors, always cite both authors and year • When three to five authors, cite all authors the first

time and the next time the reference occurs, use first author name with et al. and the year

• When there are six or more, always first author name with et al.

In Text Citation Examples • One Author

– Kvam (2011) found that cleaning behaviors… or In a study conducted on cleaning behaviors (Kvam, 2004)

• Two Authors – Deats and Whitt (2004)… or (Deats & Whitt, 2004)

• Three to Five Authors – Clements, Deats, and Kvam (1994) found… or (Clements, Deats, & Kvam, 1994) – Later on it is Clements et al. (1994) or (Clements et al., 1994)

• Six or More Authors – Whitt et al. (2006) examined neuroticism… or Neuroticism has been shown to

(Whitt et al., 2006)

Other Rules • Within a paragraph, don’t need to cite every time, as long as it

cannot be confused with another study

• If you say the name twice in same paragraph, do not need to recite. However, over citing is a better than plagiarism!

• Do need to recite if it is a new paragraph

• Rules for in text citation: when you have multiple articles by same first author in same year, must type out until able to distinguish between papers

A helpful exercise for reading a published introduction

• For the articles you will cite in your introduction read through each of the introductions and circle the different parts: – Where is the broad overview? – Where do they get more specific and review the literature? – Where do they introduce the problem/current study? – Where are they hypotheses? – Note examples of the different forms of citations

Plagiarism

• Plagiarism taken very seriously – Refer to syllabus for details

• Turning in the same (or similar) paper as your classmates

• Using someone else’s words as your own – Quoting directly without giving proper credit – Paraphrasing without proper citation

How to avoid plagiarism • Use quotes when copying text directly (You also have to

include page number when citing a quote) -According to Seuss (1960), “I would eat them in a boat” (p. 24). BUT USE QUOTES VERY SPARINGLY! THEY ARE RARE IN

SCIENTIFIC PAPERS. “I suggest not using direct quotes” (Weaver, 2013, p. 1). • Paraphrase in your own words and cite

– You have to use citation unless information you are presenting is common knowledge

• If there is any doubt, cite

Common Problems “Different types of music had different

effects on people.”

Had an effect on what? Mood? Memory? Performance?

Common Problems “Background noise is disruptive to task

performance.”

Where’s the evidence? Back up all claims or don’t make them

Common Problems “Whitt (2004) did a study on human

memory. Also, Clements (2005) looked at… (etc.)”

Tell me something about Whitt (2004)!!

Common Problems “In the present study, people were divided into

three groups: a lyrical music condition, a non-lyrical music condition, and a silence condition. Participants wore headphones while performing a typing task (etc.)”

This belongs in the Methods section

Common Problems “Future studies could examine the effect of

repetitive music on… (etc.)”

This belongs in the Discussion section, not the Introduction

Common Problems “One important aspect is the phonological

loop. This is relevant because music can distract people.”

Don’t use terms you don’t understand If you do understand, define complex

terms for the reader

Warning: • WRITING THE INTRODUCTION IS HARD!!!!! • Understanding an article takes time, so start

reading your articles now. If you don’t understand the articles, you won’t be able to bring them together in a coherent way. In other words…

• DO NOT PROCRASTINATE! • Come see me (your TA) if you need help.

• Download the data.

• Go to Angel Lessons “Personality & Risk Taking Lab – things you will need”

• Download BARTPersonalityDataFileFall2013 from Angel.

• Save it somewhere so you can have access to it later! You will need for our next lab!

Starting the data analysis

I. Extraversion (Talkative, Energetic, Outgoing)

II. Agreeableness (Helpful, Trusting, Cooperative)

III. Conscientiousness (Reliable, Hardworking, Dependable)

IV. Neuroticism (Anxious, Tense, Moody)

V. Openness (Curious about intellectual and artistic matters, Values artistic experiences, Has an active imagination)

• REMEMBER OCEAN

The Five Factors

Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) Lejuez et al., (2002)

BART correlates with real-world risk taking

• Polydrug (r = .28) • Excessive drinking (r = .28) • Smoking (r = .36) • Stealing (r = .25)

• Driving without a seatbelt (r = .25) • Gambling (r = .44) • Unprotected Sex (r = .25)

Adjusted BART score = the average number of pumps taken on non-exploding

balloons (M = 30.3; SD ≈ 13)

(Bornalova eta al., 2008; Hopko et al., 2006; Lejuez et al., 2003a; Lejuez et al., 2003b; Lejuez et al., 2002; Lejuez et al., 2004; Lejuez et al., 2007).

What are your hypotheses? • Which trait do you think will be correlated with risky

decision making?

• Why?

• Which trait do you think will be the least related?

• Why?

To answer these questions we need to put the dataset

together.

Recoding Reversed Items & Calculating Scale Scores

• Item #2: I seek danger.

• High scorers on this item are actually saying they are high on this indicator of Extraversion.

1 (Strongly Disagree) 2 (Disagree) 3 (Neither) 4 (Agree) 5 (Strongly Agree)

Example: Item #2 Measures Extraversion

• Item #11: I dislike loud music.

• High scorers on this item are actually saying they are low on this indicator of Extraversion

• Therefore, we need to reverse score this item.

• Given that the responses go from 1 to 5 we can use an easy trick to reverse score this item.

• Under Transform

• Compute: bf11R = 6 – bf11.

Example: Item #11 Measures Extraversion

Original Recoded

1 5

2 4

3 3

4 2

5 1

To recode an item in SPSS: Transform Compute Variable

A window will appear.

Type the name of the new recoded variable.

Type in the formula to recode the variable here.

You can use the variable list

to drop the variable into the

formula bar above (or you

can just type it). Hit OK after you’re done.

Several things will occur. But, most importantly, the variable will appear in

your data view.

Now practice doing recoding.

• Item bf23 is the other extraversion item that should be recoded.

• Calculate bf23r: 6 – bf23

Extraversion Scale Score • There are 10 items in the inventory that reflect

Extraversion.

• 11R, 23R, 2, 16, 17, 32, 41, 43, 45, 49

• We calculate a scale score of extraversion by calculating the average value across the items.

• REMEMBER TO USE THE RECODED REVERSE SCORE ITEMS.

• Reverse Items: 11, 23

• Average Items: 11R, 23R, 2, 16, 17, 32, 41, 43, 45, 49

• Under Transform

• Compute: EXTRA = Mean(bf11R, bf23R, bf2, bf16, bf17, bf32, bf41, bf43, bf45, bf49).

• Make sure the commas are in there!

Extraversion Scale (10 items)

Type the name of the

new variable: extra

Type in the formula to

average across the 10 items

here.

The new variable will appear here.

To calculate an extraversion scale score go to: Transform Compute Variable (which will bring up this window, again)

Now calculate the Agreeableness scale score.

• Identify the reverse scored items (see next slide).

• Recode the reverse scored items.

• Calculate the scale score.

• Reverse Items: bf3, bf4, bf13, bf15

• Average Items: bf6, bf8, bf12, bf28, bf31, bf46, bf3R, bf4R, bf13R, bf15R

• Under Transform

• Compute: AGREE = Mean(bf6, bf8, bf12, bf28, bf31, bf46, bf3R, bf4R, bf13R, bf15R).

Agreeableness Scale (10 items)

You calculate the other 3 scores Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Openness

• Reverse: bf10, bf14, bf20, bf27, bf29, bf36, bf42

• Average Items: bf19, bf25, bf40, bf10R, bf14R, bf20R, bf27R, bf29R, bf36R, bf42R

• Under Transform

• Compute: CONS = Mean(bf19, bf25, bf40, bf10R, bf14R, bf20R, bf27R, bf29R, bf36R, bf42R).

Conscientiousness Scale (10 items)

• Reverse Items: bf1, bf26, bf34, bf37, bf47

• Average Items: bf7, bf22, bf30, bf33, bf48, bf1R, bf26R, bf34R, bf37R, bf47R

• Under Transform

• Compute: NEURO = Mean (bf7, bf22, bf30, bf33, bf48, bf1R, bf26R, bf34R, bf37R, bf47R).

Neuroticism Scale (10 items)

• Reverse Items: bf5, bf18, bf21, bf24, bf38, bf44

• Average Items: bf9, bf35, bf39, bf50, bf5R, bf18R, bf21R, bf24R, bf38R, bf44R

• Under Transform

• Compute: OPEN = Mean(bf9, bf35, bf39, bf50, bf5R, bf18R, bf21R, bf24R, bf38R, bf44R).

Openness (10 Items)

Lab Report 3 • Due by the start of Lab during the week of October

28th.

• Below are slides for the next time we meet in lab (the week of October 21st). You could easily get a big jump on finishing up Lab Report 3.

• NO LAB NEXT WEEK (October 14th-17th)!

• Good luck on your midterm! Study Hard!

Questions?