Overview: In Milestone Two, you will submit your proposed hypothesis and research design. Submit the Milestone Two Worksheet. For the hypothesis, you should give a brief overview of what you expect to find in your area of research based on the research you have gathered. Be sure that your hypothesis is clear and supported by literature, using specific examples from the literature. Next, you should discuss the specific method that you will use for your research proposal, for example, an experimental design, a correlational design, a survey, or a case study. You should also discuss the details of how this method will be used. For example, if you are using an experimental design, you will need to identify the independent and dependent variables of the experiment. Or, if you are using a survey, discuss how the survey will be carried out. How will you ensure the questions are well formulated? Specifically the following critical elements must be addressed: I. Introduction E. Hypothesis 1. State your hypothesis. The hypothesis should be logical and appropriate to the topic you want to research. 2. Explain where your hypothesis fits in the context of the literature reviewed. 3. Discuss specific examples from relevant literature that support your hypothesis. II. Methods A. Methodology 1. Explain the research design and method you selected, and justify why they are appropriate for your research. 2. Discuss the research participants that will be involved in your study, including how they will be selected and how many will be used. Guidelines for Submission: Complete the Milestone Two Worksheet using complete sentences. Consult the guidelines for following APA style found in the 7 th edition of the APA Manual. Your worksheet must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and at least the two sources cited in APA format from Milestone One and any other literature you have examined to formulate your hypothesis as references.
PSY 224 Milestone Two Worksheet: Hypothesis and Methodology
Review the critical elements that must be addressed in the final project. Use this worksheet to develop Milestone Two.
I. Introduction
a.
State your hypothesis. The hypothesis should be logical and appropriate to the topic you want to research.
b. Explain where your hypothesis fits in the context of the literature review. [Discuss how the hypothesis is related to the literature you have reviewed. Is it the same? Different? Or logically derived from research you have presented? Be sure to discuss how you have come to the hypothesis based on research.]
c. Discuss specific examples from relevant literature that support your hypothesis. [Provide one or two examples of research that support your hypothesis. They can be examples from the research you have presented in the literature review.]
II. Methods
a.
Explain the research design and method you selected, and justify why they are appropriate for your research. [Here you should describe your research method and explain why you have chosen this method. Please refer to chapter 2 in the APA Manual to learn how to properly divide the method section into subsections.]
b. Discuss the research participants that will be involved in your study, including how they will be selected and how many will be used. [You should begin by describing the group of people you will need to participate in your study. You should mention specific characteristics like age, gender, etc. that will be needed for your study. Additionally, discuss how many are needed and where they will be recruited from.]
Running head: DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2
Developmental Psychology
Jasmine Eaddy
Developmental psychology is a scientific approach that aims to explain growth, change, and consistency through the lifespan. It looks at how thinking, feeling, and behavior change throughout a person’s life. Under the topic, this discussion will look at the possible developmental delays that might occur in toddlers. Toddlers in this case are children between the ages of 1-3years. Developmental delay refers to a situation where a toddler has not yet gained the developmental skills that are possessed by other kids of the same age. Developmental delays in toddlers are wide and may occur in various areas of growth such as cognitive, social skills, play, language and speech, and motor functions (Miller et al., 2021). Though parents might find it scary after learning that their toddler might be having delays, they need to understand that there are treatment options for certain diagnoses that can help the toddler to reach their full potential.
The first article by Wang et al. (2019) examines whether developmental delays is a problem among toddlers in various subpopulation in China. The subpopulations involved account for about 69% of the total population of children in China. Out of the sample of 3353 toddlers, 85% of them were found to have at least one of the developmental delays indicated earlier. The second article is done by Schmeer et al. (2020) examines the toddler developmental delays that might be caused by maternal postpartum stress, particularly studied on racially diverse families. The results indicated that mothers that experienced stress were likely to affect their toddlers to have developmental delays. The study thus suggested psychosocial intervention as a way to minimize toddler developmental delays.
The first article by Wang et al. (2019) uses a sample population from only the rural areas. It does not incorporate toddlers from urban centers. Thus, this becomes a limitation because the sample population is not general and inclusive of the major factors. The credibility of the study would be excellent had it incorporated toddlers from both areas. In addition, the study does not give a solution to the problem, how parents or China should solve the problem at hand. On the other hand, the second article by Schmeer et al. (2020) about maternal postpartum stress as a major cause of toddler developmental delays has one limitation; that it does not include other variables or factors that might be contributing to the high number of developmental delays. Is maternal postpartum stress the only factor that can cause delays? No. thus the research should have included other factors such as diet or living standards to give more accurate findings and make the study more credible. Either way, the sample size of toddler populations used in both articles is substantial which makes the findings more credible. In addition, the data analysis techniques applied to make both articles to be credible.
Bias and limitations impact research through the distortion of results leading to wrong conclusions. This results in more costs used in correcting unnecessary and avoidable circumstances which could have been avoided by authors. Limitations also influence less expounding of issues such as the factors that influence developmental delays among infants. The article on toddler development issues in rural parts of China is biased through limiting research to rural areas excluding the urban areas. Therefore, the research can give detailed information however chances of learning out a bigger population is high, this leads to bias conclusions about infants and their developmental stages and problems in China and can be interpreted by others wrongly.
The second article on maternal postpartum stress’s impact on toddler delays in development has limitations where one of them is that it uses one factor to determine the level of developmental delays and how postpartum stress affects it. The article on postpartum stress and its impact on developmental delays uses quantitative design and experimental research design. The second article is on researching infant and toddler developmental delays in the rural parts of China whether it is considered an issue or not. The research design used is a qualitative and observational research method to identify if the developmental growth and issues that surround it are an issue among rural residents in China. The research design used in both the case studies is fitting the appropriateness of the questions. The article that tackles maternal postpartum stress on toddler’s delay in developmental stages has used its designs and methods to explain the impact through a case study with the help of quantitative correlational research design which gives detailed information about the participants of the case study.
The other article about infant and toddler delays in development in rural parts of China has used qualitative research design to express issues such as how, and what questions that might arise to enable the understanding of whether developmental stages are issues among the Chinese. The case study has earlier been identified to be biased due to the use of one case study, the rural team rather than incorporating the urban population in the research to conclude and reach a sound and final decision. The design applied in the Chinese case study is an observation method that explains the observations of the authors before concluding on the research question. The research designs and methods of the two articles on the toddler impact a better understanding and meet all the APA ethical principles that cover principles followed by psychologists and other teams.
References
Miller, L. E., Dai, Y. G., Fein, D. A., & Robins, D. L. (2021). Characteristics of toddlers with early versus later diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Autism, 25(2), 416-428.
Schmeer, K. K., Guardino, C., Irwin, J. L., Ramey, S., Shalowitz, M., & Dunkel Schetter, C. (2020). Maternal postpartum stress and toddler developmental delays: Results from a multisite study of racially diverse families. Developmental psychobiology, 62(1), 62-76.
Wang, L., Liang, W., Zhang, S., Jonsson, L., Li, M., Yu, C., & Rozelle, S. (2019). Are infant/toddler developmental delays a problem across rural China? Journal of Comparative Economics, 47(2), 458-469.