Research Project: Topic Development Worksheet Assignment
MANDATORY BOOK: Myers: Social Psychology 13TH EDITION, © 2019 By David Myers ISBN:1260139832 Component Products:
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Research Project: Topic Development Worksheet Assignment Instructions
PSYC 312
Research Project: Topic Development Worksheet Assignment Instructions
Overview
This assignment is the first in our Research Project series. It provides an opportunity for you to take a closer look at a topic related to social psychology. You will use your work in this assignment to sharpen your research while you prepare to write your Research Project: Literature Review Assignment later in this term.
Instructions
For this assignment, you will:
1. Show the progression of topic development using a copy of the table provided below. Note: Sample data is provided. Please do not use this topic or any of the references.
2.
After completing your copy of the Research Project: Topic Development Worksheet Template, you will submit your completed template and APA-formatted title page along with a PDF copy of each article you choose related to your topic (see the criteria below).
Steps
1. Begin with a general topic.
2. Narrow your general topic by selecting a topic from one chapter in our textbook.
3. Skim the chapter to identify one topic within the chapter that interests you. Read that section and write down questions that come to mind.
4. Identify one question that interests you most. This will become your research question.
5. Begin your search to determine what has been discovered on your topic. This will be a preliminary look at the topic. Feel free to flag articles that look like they may be helpful but don’t be in a hurry to create a final list.
6. Based on what you find in the literature, formulate a preliminary purpose/thesis statement. Your thesis statement should:
· Be a response to your research question that identifies your topic,
· State your position, and
· Provide evidence to support your position.
This purpose statement may need to be adjusted/refined as you conduct your research.
7. Finalize your research process by choosing at least 5 articles from the JF Library. All 5 must be from peer-reviewed journals published within the past 5 years. All five must describe original research and each article must support your research question and purpose statement.
How to identify “original research”
Original research articles will include the following sections:
· Abstract
· Introduction (will not always identified with a label)
· Methods
· Results
· Discussion
· References
The abstract for original research will likely include words such as these:
· Study
· Sample
The abstract for original research will NOT include these words:
· Review
· Meta-Analysis
· Editorial
· Commentary
8. Download a PDF copy of each article selected. These copies will be submitted with your assignment (you will upload a total of six documents: This worksheet and 5 separate articles). The PDFs should be named using the first author’s last name as the document identifier. For example: Smith.PDF
9. Final Steps
· Create an APA-formatted title page to use as a cover sheet for this document.
· Self-check using the assignment instructions and grading rubric.
· Begin reading and taking notes on your articles, as they will be used for the upcoming Research Project: Literature Review Assignment.
Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.
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Please replace all text with your information. Note that it is not permissible to use this topic or any of the resources listed for your assignment.
Close Social Relationships and Health
Sam C. Sample
School of Behavioral Sciences, Liberty University
PSYC 312: Social Psychology
Dr. Erik Rogers
February 8, 2021
Topic Development Worksheet
(Replace highlighted text and/or follow instructions as indicated.
Please keep your responses highlighted).
Instruction
Example
Step One
Begin with a general topic.
Social Psychology
Step Two
Narrow your general topic by selecting a topic from one chapter in our textbook.
Chapter 14: Social Relationships and Health
Step Three
Skim the chapter to identify one topic within the chapter that interests you. Read that section and write down questions that come to mind.
Close Social Relationships and Health (p. 446)
Step Four
Identify one question that interests you most. This will become your research question.
Are any health benefits associated with close relationships?
Step Five
Begin your search to determine what has been discovered on your topic. This will be a preliminary look at the topic. Feel free to flag articles that look like they may be helpful but don’t be in a hurry to create a final list.
Research Tips:
1. Make a list of key words from the section of our textbook pertaining to your topic to use as search terms. List at least 5 key words here.
2. Search for one of the articles cited in our textbook in the JF Library. Your search will produce a list of related articles.
3. Type your research question in the Google Scholar search box to locate related articles. Within Google Scholar you can then look at the “Cited By” articles as well as the “Related Articles.” Type your research question or search phrase here.
4. Remember to narrow your search to include only articles from the last five years.
5. In the JFL search engine you can specify the date range, the type of article, etc.
List at least 3 limiters you used in your search (example date range, peer-reviewed, etc.
Step Six
Based on what you find in the literature, formulate a preliminary purpose/thesis statement.
Your thesis statement should:
1. Be a response to your research question that identifies your topic,
2. State your position, and
3. Provide evidence to support your position.
This purpose statement may need to be adjusted/refined as you conduct your research.
Close personal relationships are associated with better outcomes related to physical, mental, and spiritual health based on correlational studies conducted by Smith (2017), Jones (2019), Marshall (2020), Bigsby (2018) and Knabb (2021).
Type your preliminary thesis statement here.
Step Seven
Finalize your research process by choosing at least 5 articles from the JF Library. All 5 must be from peer-reviewed journals published within the past 5 years. All five must describe original research and each article must support your research question and purpose statement.
How to identify “original research”
Original research articles will include the following sections:
• Abstract
• Introduction (will not always identified with a label)
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• References
The abstract for original research will likely include words such as these:
• Study
• Sample
The abstract for original research will NOT include these words:
• Review
• Meta-Analysis
• Editorial
• Commentary
Sample article list:
Replace the articles listed below with APA formatted reference citations for your selected articles.
Dill-McFarland, K. A., Tang, Z. Z., Kemis, J. H., Kerby, R. L., Chen, G., Palloni, A., Sorenson, T., Rey, R. E. & Herd, P. (2019). Close social relationships correlate with human gut microbiota composition. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 1-10.
Gronewold, J., Kropp, R., Lehmann, N., Schmidt, B., Weyers, S., Siegrist, J., Dragano, N., Jöckel, K. H., Erbel, R., Hermann, D. M. (2020). Association of social relationships with incident cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality. Heart, 106(17), 1317-1323.
Kim, J. W., Lim, C., & Falci, C. (2020). Subjective social class, perceived quality of social relationships, and happiness: A case of mediation and moderation across gender. International Sociology, 35(3), 312-335.
Shensa, A., Sidani, J. E., Escobar-Viera, C. G., Switzer, G. E., Primack, B. A., & Choukas-Bradley, S. (2020). Emotional support from social media and face-to-face relationships: Associations with depression risk among young adults. Journal of Affective Disorders, 260, 38-44.
Werner-Seidler, A., Afzali, M. H., Chapman, C., Sunderland, M., & Slade, T. (2017). The relationship between social support networks and depression in the 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Well-being. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 52(12), 1463-1473.
Step Eight
Download a PDF copy of each article selected.
Download a PDF copy of each article. These copies will be submitted with your assignment (you will upload a total of six documents: This worksheet and 5 separate articles). The PDFs should be named using the first author’s last name as the document identifier. For example: Smith.PDF
Step Nine
Final Steps
· Create an APA-formatted title page to use as a cover sheet for this document.
· Self-check using the assignment instructions and grading rubric.
· Begin reading and taking notes on your articles as they will be used for the upcoming Research Project: Literature Review Assignment.