1

LABORATORY ACTIVITY #1: COMMON SENSE PSYCHOLOGY (30 Points)

An instrument called the Commonsense Psychology quiz was developed

(Society for the Teaching of Psychology, Division 2, American Psychological Society) on
various topics that are answerable by True or False. These statements demonstrate
how we use common sense in coming up with our own judgments and conclusions
about certain topics.
Divide yourselves into groups and answer six questions. Explain your answers in
class and submit a group reaction on what you’ve learned from the activity.
GROUP 1
1. “Psychologist” and “Psychiatrist” refer to the same profession.
2. Some people never dream.
3. Negative reinforcement is the same as punishment.
4. Eyewitness testimony is some of the best evidence used by police in court trials.
5. A person’s intelligence is partly determined by brain size.
6. We can train infants to walk at an early age.

GROUP 2
1. Psychologists study behavior and the mind, but not biology.
2. When we sleep, the brain sleeps as well.
3. We can’t do much to improve our memory.
4. In order to be creative, a person must be very intelligent.
5. Instinct determines many of our behaviors.
6. There is not much society can do to help the mentally retarded.

GROUP 3
1. All psychologists do is therapy.
2. A correlations between two variables means that one of those variables causes the other.
3. Opposite types of people attract each other.
4. Most old people have some degree of senility.
5. You can’t change people’s attitudes, opinions, or beliefs.
6. People who rape do so because they have a strong craving for “sex.”

GROUP 4
1. Shock treatment is often used for people with anxiety. E
2. Most of us would not follow instructions from an authority figure to hurt another person.
3. A person with schizophrenia has a split personality. O
4. People with hypochondriasis (somatoform disorder) pretend to be sick. O
5. If you spank of hit children when they misbehave, it will make them more irresponsible and they
will no longer behave. E
6. All your memory abilities fade and become worse with increasing age. E

GROUP 5
1. Mutual attraction or love is the most important desired characteristic in a potential marriage partner
or spouse across all cultures.
2. Homeless are lazy, don’t want to work, and enjoy living on the streets in cardboard boxes.
3. The elderly do not enjoy or have sex.
 2

4. You can’t get pregnant the first time you have sex.
5. You can’t get pregnant unless you have an orgasm.
6. You can get to know someone pretty well during a long conversation with him or her. You don’t
need to have a courtship or friendship with them to really get to know them.

GROUP 6
1. You are more likely to get help if there are people around you. There is safety in numbers.
2. If someone already has a lot of money, they are not going to steal your money because they don’t
need it.
3. Fantasy versus reality can be taught to children and will buffer the effects of violent cartoons,
movies, etc.
4. You can’t get pregnant when you are having your period or are menstruating.
5. Baby formula milk is just as good as breast milk. It has all the same ingredients. Thus, breast-
feeding is not important or advantageous.
6. Taller people have more self-esteem and more of an authoritarian personality because they literally
look down on people.

GROUP 7
1. Teenaged pregnancy is always a result of an “accident,” “incest,” or “rape” and never a deliberate
or intentional act on the part of the female.
2. Those who cohabitate or live with each other prior to marriage have a higher likelihood of a
successful marriage because they “try” or “taste” a practice marriage before the real marriage.
3. Breast cancer only occurs among the elderly or post-menopausal women. You can’t get breast
cancer as a young female or teenager
4. An unborn fetus does not have hearing or audio recognition capabilities.
5. Mental illness does not affect the average person.
6. Children don’t get mental illness.

GROUP 8
1. Observational learning or learning by watching others only occurs among “humans” and not among
animal primates.
2. Dreams are the best way to measure personality. This is known as dream analysis.
3. Newborns and infants have adult-like vision.
4. If children learn or are exposed to more than one language, that will make them get confused and
hurt their learning and development.
5. All mentally ill people are “dangerous.”
6. If I go to a mental health professional, people will think I’m crazy.

QUESTIONS: (25 POINTS)

1. Based on the activity, what have you learned about common sense psychology?
2. Why do you think should we rely on scientific methods rather than common
sense psychology to explain behavior?
3. Select 5 questions from any of the topic listed above and indicate which tool you
might use (observation, measurement, and experimentation) to study these
issues.
4. What do you think are the sources of our misconceptions?
5. If you were to establish cause and effect, how might you do this in the context of
experimental psychology?
LABORATORY ACTIVITY #2: ETHICS IN EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
 3

Identifying Ethical Violations in John B. Watson’s Experiment and Rosenhan’s

Study
In the field of psychology, advancements made were a result of experiments that
were conducted by such famous psychologists such as John B. Watson and David L.
Rosenhan. These experiments are meant to show you how ethical issues can arise
from experiments.

THE LITTLE ALBERT EXPERIMENT (30 Points)

One of the more renowned behavioral psychologists was John B. Watson. His experiment with
Little Albert took Pavlov’s experiment of the conditioning process in dogs a step further by testing it on
Albert, an infant who was nine months at that time. Different stimuli were shown to Little Albert. This
included a white rat, a rabbit, a monkey, different masks, and burning newspaper. Little Albert showed no
fear of these objects initially. However, the next time he was shown a rat, Watson made a loud noise by
hitting a metal pipe. Predictably, Little Albert cried after hearing the loud noise. After several times of
hitting the metal pipe whenever Little Albert would see a rat, just by seeing the rat by itself, he would start
to cry.

Questions:

1. What ethical issues can you identify from this experiment?

2. If you were to do this experiment, what would you do differently?
3. How would you address the ethical issues related to this experiment?

THE ROSENHAN STUDY: ON BEING SANE IN INSANE PLACES (30 Points)

The study of Rosenhan (Rosenhan, 1979) called “On Being Sane in Insane Places” was one of
the landmark studies in Psychology. His study questioned the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the
American Psychiatric Association on how symptoms can be organized into syndromes, which in turn, lead
to the diagnosis of mental disorders. In his research, he implies that categorizing individuals into having
such mental disorders may prove to be harmful or not beneficial because it is dependent on the clinical
judgment of the mental health professionals who are diagnosing these individuals.

THE EXPERIMENT:

Rosenhan’s experiment involved eight (8) sane people who were secretly admitted to 12 different
hospitals. It described their experience throughout the diagnostic process as well as a description of how
they were treated in these hospitals. What were their experiences at these hospitals in the hands of the
so-called competent mental health professionals?

The “pseudopatients” consisted of a group of different individuals – a psychology graduate

student in his 20s, three psychologists, a pediatrician, a psychiatrist, a painter, and a housewife. Among
these “pseudopatients” were three women and five men. To protect them, they all used pseudonyms.
They also claimed to have different occupations from the ones they currently had. Other than that, no
 4

changes were made about their information, which included their life histories. Most of the hospitals were
unaware of the experiment.

Several different locations were chosen. These hospitals were on the East and West Coast.
Each hospital was different from another in terms of their facilities, funding, and staff-patient ratios.

To be admitted to the hospitals, all of them set appointments and complained of hearing voices of
the same sex telling them their lives were hollow and meaningless. Once admitted, they stopped feigning
symptoms of mental illness. They started acting normally, telling the hospital staff they were fine. They
responded and followed instructions from attendants to take medicine (which they didn’t swallow) and to
engage in activities within the hospital. Those pseudopatients who wanted to be discharged immediately
behaved in a manner that would indicate that their behavior was not disruptive. The nursing reports even
indicated that they were “friendly,” “cooperative,” and had “no abnormal indications.”

THE HYPOTHESIS:

Are the notions of normality and abnormality as accurate as people believe? Can the sane be
distinguished from the insane? Would the mental health professionals at the psychiatric hospitals be able
to distinguished sane individuals from those who were sane?

SOME IMPORTANT FINDINGS

 Despite their public show of sanity, the pseudopatients were never detected.
 They observed powerlessness and depersonalization. In terms of powerlessness, some patients
described feeling that their freedom of movement was restricted. Medicine was rejected by the
pseudopatients. Many other patients rejected their pills as well but there is no data in the study to
support this claim. Depersonalization comes from fear, distrust, and horrible expectations. On the
other hand, there were benevolent intentions seen as well. However, ambivalence leads to
avoidance. A pinpointed source of depersonalization was the hierarchical structure of these
institutions, with nursing staff and supervisors spending the most time with the doctors. Average daily
contact with doctors and residents ranged from 3.9 to 25.1 minutes. There was also lack of funding
that led to facilities that were not sufficient to meet the patients’ needs.
 There was also a heavy dependence on psychotropic medicine, which also led to depersonalization.

Summary of findings:

The patients were powerless, depersonalized, segregated. They also felt mortification and that they were
being self-labeled.

IMPLICATIONS

 We cannot distinguish sanity and insanity. How will this information be used?
 How many people are sane but are not recognized as such in psychiatric institutions?
 How many patients become insane as a result of being in those places?

Excerpts from On Being Sane in Insane Places by David L. Rosenhan. Science, New Series, Vol. 179, No. 4070. (Jan. 19, 1973), pp. 250-258.Copyright 1973 by the American
Association for the Advancement of Science .

QUESTIONS:
1. What ethical issues can you identify throughout this experiment?
2. Given the chance, what would you have done differently?
3. Could this study have gotten the same results if you changed any aspect of this
research?
 5

LABORATORY ACTIVITY #3: IDENTIFYING PARTS OF A JOURNAL

ARTICLE (20 Points)

In this activity, you will be assigned a different reading materials (research journal
articles) each group.
Samples of:
 Phenomenology
 Case Study
 Field Study
 Archival Study
 Qualitative Research 1
 Grounded Theory
 Qualitative Research 2
 Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

The students will work with their group mates to discuss and answer the activity
using these guide questions:

1. Describe what kind of information you might find in each article.

2. What can you gather from the abstract?
3. What do you think the study is about based on what you see in the
abstract?
4. Why do the authors think their research topic is relevant?
5. What issue(s) are they addressing?
6. Who are they conducting their study on?
7. How do they think their study can contribute to the scientific community?
8. What kind of information can you gather from this journal article’s methods
section?
9. Who are the participants?
10. What did they do when they conducted their study?
11. What instruments were used?
12. Are the findings clear?
13. Did you understand what the researchers were trying to say? Why or why
not?
14. What are the findings?
15. What did you learn from the researchers’ discussion?
16. Was their discussion clear?
17. Why or why not?
18. What did you learn about the study just by reading the conclusion?
19. Do you think that reading the conclusion is enough for you to understand
what the authors were trying to study?
20. In your own words, how would you conclude the study?
 6

LABORATORY ACTIVITY #4: FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES ONLINE

Journal articles are an important part of your research paper. These help you
support your claims throughout your research paper. For example, if you were to say,
“Children who are sexually abused typically end up as alcoholics.” Before you would
consider putting this on your paper, you must find a journal article that would support
this claim. Then, you can say, “Previous research has shown that children who are
sexually abused typically end up as alcoholics (put your citation here).”
Using Google, the search terms that were entered were “sexually abused
children” and “alcoholism” the following is the first few results that came up on the list.

When looking through these results, which of the following would you select
when writing your paper? Typically, you may want to consider using perhaps the 2 nd
article as a resource. However, the other two may be used as a springboard as you
further look into your topic.
To get a feel of how it would be to find articles online, work with your groups to
find at least 10 journal articles for the topic assigned to you.
 7

FINDING ARTICLES ONLINE: (30 Points for finding the articles)

GROUP TOPIC
1 Mothers, daughters, and dieting
2 Psychological Treatments for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
3 Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
4 Borderline personality disorder
5 Culture, stigma, and depression
6 Sleep terrors
7 Oppositional defiant disorders, conduct disorders, and psychopathic
features
8 Cognitive Vulnerability

Questions: (75 Points Total)

1. What articles did you find? Submit the articles and put the titles in APA Format.
(50 points for the 10 articles to be submitted in APA Format)
2. How did you find the articles?
3. Using Google Search, what kinds of articles did you find?
4. How about Google Scholar?
5. Is there a difference in the articles you found on Google Search or Google
Scholar?
6. Which ones, if any, would you use as part of your research paper?

There are basic rules of thumb that are used when using resources for your
research paper.
 Do not use references that are more than 10 years old unless these are
considered to be groundbreaking studies or unless they contain origins of
theories and concepts.
 Newspaper articles may be used to prove an example but these are not be
preferred.
 Do not believe everything you read. Peer reviewed scientific journals are
typically widely accepted for research papers.
 You may want to consider articles suggested by Google Scholar, Wiley,
Ebscohost, and a wide range of academic databases available to you.
 Blogs are not acceptable to be used as a resource for your research papter.
 Wikipedia is not an acceptable resource to use for your research paper.
 8

LABORATORY ACTIVITY #5 NONEXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH (30 Points

for Presentation (Group), 30 Points for Journal Article Summary
(Individual), (Quiz)

There are different types of research that are conducted in psychology. Some of these research
methods are nonexperimental in research. To expose you to the different nonexperimental research
methods, you will be assigned into a group. Each group will be assigned different types of journal articles
that will be presented in class. The assignments will be as follows:

GROUP ASSIGNED TOPIC

1 Phenomenology
2 Case Study
3 Field Study
4 Archival Study
5 Qualitative Research 1
6 Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
7 Grounded Theory
8 Qualitative Research 2

You are expected to prepare a 15-minute presentation in class with the highlights of each Journal
article you were assigned. Limit your presentation to 20 slides at the most. No paragraphs should be
seen on the slides. Only bullet points that will serve as your guide as you report. Or you may have
paragraphs BUT you cannot read from them. Make sure you summarize the information. In addition, you
will also be required to submit a written Journal Article Summary of the article you will be reporting on.
The following is the format for the Journal Article Summary.

 Introduction: What is the background of the study? Why did the authors conduct the study?
What is the study about?
 Procedures: Who were the participants of the study? How many were they? How did they
gather the data from their subjects? What was being measured, if any? What was being
compared?
 Findings: What were the major findings and results of this study? Were these findings useful?
What was the major outcome of the study?
 Limitations: What were the limitations of the study?
 Conclusion: How will this study contribute to the scientific community? Are the findings useful in
your future practice of psychology? If yes, how?

For this activity, you have to do the following:

(1) Prepare your PowerPoint report in class

(2) If your group is reporting, prepare 7 questions that you will be asking each group once your report
is finished. You will be required to grade the answers of your classmates. This will serve as a
quiz.
(3) If your group is not reporting, make sure you take notes and listen to the reporters. Your answers
will be graded. However, you will also be required to rate the reporting group as well. These are
to be submitted to me at the end of the class.
 9

LABORATORY ACTIVITY #6: PROBABILITY AND NONPROBABILITY SAMPLING

(30 Points presentation Group, 30 points Journal Article Summary (Individual)

GROUP REPORT
1 Correlation
2 Linear Regression Analysis
3 Multiple Correlation and Multiple Regression
4 Causal Modeling
5 Path Analysis
6 Cross-Lagged Panel Design
7 Ex-Post Facto Studies
8 Non Equivalent Group Designs

You are expected to prepare a 15-minute presentation in class with the highlights
of each Journal article you were assigned. In addition, you will also be required to
submit a written Journal Article Summary of the article you will be reporting on. The
following is the format for the Journal Article Summary.

 Introduction:
1. What is the background of the study?
2. Why did the authors conduct the study?
3. What is the study about?
 Procedures:
1. Who were the participants of the study?
2. How many were they?
3. How did they gather the data from their subjects?
4. What was being measured, if any?
5. What was being compared?
 Findings:
1. What were the major findings and results of this study?
2. Were these findings useful?
3. What was the major outcome of the study?
 Limitations:
1. What were the limitations of the study?
 Conclusion:
1. How will this study contribute to the scientific community?
2. Are the findings useful in your future practice of psychology?
3. If yes, how?

For this activity, you are required to

(1) Prepare your PowerPoint report in class. Limit your presentation to 20 slides at
the most. If your group is reporting, prepare 7 questions that you will be asking
each group once your report is finished. You will be required to grade the
answers of your classmates. This will serve as a quiz.
 10

(2) If your group is not reporting, make sure you take notes and listen to the
reporters. Your answers will be graded. However, you will also be required to
rate the reporting group as well. These are to be submitted to me at the end of
the class.
LABORATORY ACTIVITY #7: A SIMPLE EXPERIMENT (30 Points, Individual)

You will now experience how to be subjects in an experiment. This is not an

actual experiment but your participation will be most appreciated. The details will be
revealed in class.

Answer the following questions:

1. What do you think are the dependent and independent variables in this
experiment?
2. What would your hypothesis be?
3. Did the results surprise you?
4. Do you think the experiment could have been improved more?
5. How would you improve it?

LABORATORY ACTIVITY #8: SELECTING A RESEARCH INSTRUMENT (30 Points,

Groupwork)

Your research instrument is one of the most important components of your

research. In selecting a research instrument, you must select one that is valid and
reliable. A measure that you must look at is called the Cronbach’s Alpha. An
acceptable range for a Cronbach’s Alpha is 0.60 to 1.0. A reliable and valid instrument
will ensure that your results are robust. In thinking about your final project, what will you
measure? What kind of instrument will you use to measure your variables?
In thinking about what research instrument, you will be using, it is important that
you know what you are measuring. For example, if you would like to measure
happiness, you may want to consider an instrument that has already been developed
and of course, one that has good psychometric properties.
Once you have selected your instrument, it is highly advisable that you are able
to take the test so you understand your instrument better. At the same time, you MUST
also make sure you know how the instrument is scored. One question that you might
want to ask yourself is what the scores mean. In other words, if you were to total all
your responses, what would your result be?
Questions:
(1) What do you want to measure?
(2) What instrument will you be using? (Be specific)
 11

(3) Each group member must take the test and explain in writing the different
aspects of the test.
(4) How is your instrument scored?
(5) What do your results mean?
LABORATORY ACTIVITY #9: FINDING RELATED LITERATURE
(30 Points Groupwork)
Each member of the group must submit at least 5 journal articles that are related
to their chosen topic in the library. The group must then discuss how the Review of
Literature will be presented in the paper. What are the headings that will be included as
they relate to the study? Each group must then submit an outline of how the topics will
be discussed in their Review of Related Literature.

Submit your Review of Related Literature.

LABORATORY ACTIVITY #10: INTRODUCTION AND REFERENCES

By this time, you would have already come up with your idea for your experiment.
You must now work on your Introduction as well as your references. As a guide, refer
back to the notes already discussed with you previously. The final project for
Experimental Psychology will be a minimum of a pretest-intervention-posttest design.
You may to conceptualize an experimental design that will look like this. Think of your
variables and come up with a table like this as it relates to the variables you would like
to explore.

Some points you may want to consider when writing your introduction are the following:

 What is the problem?

 How does it affect us?
 By studying this problem, how will you help the scientific community?
 What are you studying? How will you do it?
 Come up with your own table similar to this so you can conceptualize your own
experiment.
 12

LABORATORY ACTIVITY #11: THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The theoretical framework will help guide your study. It is important for you to
identify which theories your study is anchored on or grounded on so that you can
explain the phenomena better. For example, let’s say you are studying depression.
The model below is Beck’s Model of Depression, specifically The Cognitive Triad. You
may then use this model to help guide your research on depression, for example.

Negative view of
the self

Negative view Negative view

of the world of the future

The conceptual framework helps identify your dependent and independent

variable and how you are going to analyze them. Are you going to look for a
relationship between the two using a correlational study? Are you going to look for
differences in scores using the t-test or ANOVA?

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DEPENDENT VARIABLE

 Experimental method applied and  Resource Management

comparative analysis  Integrated Implementation
 Integrated curriculum application  Teaching staff flexibility
 Management strategy and  Manual for dehydration processes
operations dynamics

MANUAL FOR APPLICATION IN

BASIC SECONDARY SCHOOL

Questions:
(1) Identify the theories you will use to explain your study. When you do your
Review of Related Literature, you will find that the studies on the topic you are
researching will mention the theories that they used to guide them as well. This will
help clue you in on what theory you may use in your research.
 13

(2) Identify your variables and how you will study them. Construct your own
model, similar to the one above and see how your variables will interact with each other.
LABORATORY ACTIVITY #12: DEPENDENT/INDEPENDENT VARIABLE;
OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS; METHODS SECTION; GENERATING AND REFINING
RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

In experimental psychology, there are several things you must resolve earlier on
in your experiment. For example, you have to be able to identify what your dependent
and independent variables are. As you already know, for your experiments, you will
most likely have to use a quantitative research method. Then you identify how you will
conduct your research. Some examples would be the following:
 The Effect of __________ on ______________ in ______ conditions
 The Influence of __________ on ______________ in ______ conditions
 The Differences between ___________ and __________ on __________

OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS

Operational Definitions limit the terms you use in your study. Depending on what
instruments you use, you have to make sure that when you use a term, especially if is a
variable you will use for your study, you operationally define it so your readers know
what they mean.

(1) What variables will you operationally define in your experiment?

(2) What will you base their definitions on?

DEPENDENT AND INDEPENDENT VARIABLES

A little bit about dependent and independent variables. Dependent variables are
the outcome variables while independent variables are variables that you manipulate.
For example, if you want to find out if chocolate improves people’s moods, your
dependent variable would be people’s moods (outcome) while your independent
variable would be with or without chocolate.

Another example is if you wanted to know if you are able to retain information
from studying when you’re tired, what do you think your dependent and independent
variables would be? How would you study this? First, you’ll have to determine how you
will measure retention of information. Will it be in the form of test performance? Then,
you’ll have to figure out how to measure tiredness. Would it be by the number of hours
 14

of sleep? The activities done throughout the day? What do you think would be a better
way to figure this out?

So now let’s say for this experiment, there are two things you’re going to
measure.

VARIABLE MEASURE
How much information can you retain Performance on a quiz the next day
from studying (Score on Quiz)
How tired you are How much sleep you’ve gotten
(Number of hours of sleep)

We have now identified our variables – Score on Quiz and Number of hours of
sleep. Which one do you think is the outcome? In this case, it’s the score on the quiz
because it is dependent on how much sleep you’re getting. This means that your
Dependent Variable would be the Score on the Quiz while your Independent Variable
would be the number of hours of sleep you’ve gotten the previous night.

Another example can be the amount of information you would retain while
studying if while studying you were listening to music. How would you study this?
Again, let’s figure out how to measure the amount of information retained while
studying. Once again, it can be in the form of performance on a quiz the next day. So
this time, music, our other variable, can be measured this way. You have 2 conditions -
One without music and one with music. So this is how you might want to conceptualize
this.

VARIABLE MEASURE
How much information you would retain Score on a quiz
With or without music Presence or absence of music

Unlike the first example, having music or not having it while you’re studying is
different. You either have music or you don’t. These are ‘conditions’ we will be using to
determine how much information you retail with or without music.

CONDITION VARIABLE
With Music Score on test
Without Music Score on test
 15

You may then test this on two groups. You can have one group that will listen to
music while studying for a quiz and another group that will not listen to music while
studying for that same quiz. How does this example differ from the first example? In
this case, the dependent variable, the outcome would be the score on the test.
However, the independent variable is the presence or absence of music. This will be
your independent variable or the variable that you are manipulating.
A good rule of thumb to use when trying to figure out dependent and independent
variables is to remember that the dependent variable is the outcome. The independent
variable is the variable you are manipulating or the predictor variable.
Let’s try to work out a few examples together.

 Are people who are married happier than those who are single?
 Are people with large foreheads smarter than those with smaller foreheads?

Now, with your groups, try to work through these examples and let’s discuss the
answers afterwards.
1. Can students learn more in a noisy classroom?
2. Do students who sit in front of the class get higher grades?
3. Does attribution have an influence on self-esteem?
4. Do students who write down notes in class perform better in their subjects?
5. Does motivation affect school performance?
6. Does the use of social media affect school performance?
7. Does the use of social media affect one’s self-esteem?
8. Does family functioning affect school performance?
9. Does self-esteem affect levels of anxiety?
10. Does being grateful increase levels of happiness?

HYPOTHESIS SECTION
The hypothesis is the main idea of your experiment. According to Myers &
Hansen (2011), your hypothesis section needs to have the following characteristics. The
statements should be
1. Synthetic
2. Testable
3. Falsifiable
4. Parsimonious
5. Fruitful

Each of these will be discussed in class. Now come up with your own hypothesis
for your research and submit your output. We will discuss each one thoroughly.
 16

METHODS SECTION

Now that you are aware of some of the information your methods section should
contain, you have to then put them altogether. Given your research question, the
methods section will then tell your readers how you are going to answer your research
question.

(1) How will/did you answer your research questions?

(2) What instruments will you be using?
(3) What experimental design are you using?
(4) How did you conduct your experiment?
(5) How did you analyze the results? What statistical tool did you use to analyze
your data?

LABORATORY ACTIVITY #13: SELECTING PARTICIPANTS

SELECTING PARTICIPANTS:

Selecting participants is one of the most important things you can do in research. Your
selection of participants can affect the validity of your experiment. You may choose to
randomize the participants if you want to have a true experiment or you may select them based
on convenience. Based on the discussion on sample populations, each group must come up
with their selection criteria for their experiment.

Let’s select your participants for your respective experiments. You are now asked to
think about your experiment and select your participant.
(1) What kind of sampling method will you use?
(2) Why did you select that particular sampling method?
(3) How will you select your participants?
a. What qualifiers will you use to select them?
b. What measures did you take to ensure that your group is homogeneous?
In other words if you’re conducting an experiment on music and mood, what
steps did you take to ensure that the subject’s mood was not affected by external factors that
they may be going through at the present moment?
 17

(4) What literature did you use to support your choice of population to study on? For
example, was there any literature on music preference and the population?
LABORATORY ACTIVITY #14: INFORMED CONSENT FORMS

The informed consent form is important when you conduct your experiment. Refer to
page 46 of your Experimental Psychology book by Hansen and Myers. A word of caution, you
may not want to disclose exactly what you’re studying because you do not want to give your
participants a hint of what exactly you’re trying to study. You may disclose this at the end of the
experiment once you conduct your debriefing.

Sample Consent Form For Participation Of Undergraduates In Psychology Research

Project Title:
Name of Investigator:
How to contact the investigator:

You are being asked to volunteer for a research study to investigate [provide details
about the nature of the research, a brief description of specific procedures of the study, the
length of time for participation, and potential risks and benefits].

Your participation in this study is voluntary. If you agree to participate, you are free to
withdraw from the study at any point without penalty. All information you provide in this study
will be anonymous. Your name will not be linked to your information in any way; instead code
numbers will be used. Adequate safeguards will be used to maintain the privacy and
confidentiality of all information you provide. When the results of the study are reported, only
group results will be described, not individual results.

The experimenter will answer any questions you have about the study before you agree
to participate. You will be given a copy of this form to keep. For questions you may have after
the study, please contact the investigator listed above. For questions about your rights as a
research participant, please contact [include contact information/email address of your
professor]. If you agree to participate in this study, please sign and date the form below in the
spaces provided.

____________________ ________________
Participant’s signature Date
 18

Prepare the informed consent form for your study. You may use this format or you may
use something else.
LABORATORY ACTIVITY #15: CONTROLLING EXTRANEOUS VARIABLES

EXTRANEOUS VARIABLES:

Extraneous variables must also be considered when conducting the experiment.

(1) What possible extraneous variables can you anticipate in the conduct of your
experiment?
(2) Identify at least 5 extraneous variables that can affect the outcome of your
experiment.
(3) How do you mitigate the risk that these will affect your results?

LABORATORY ACTIVITY #16: YOUR COVER STORY

You don’t want your subjects to guess the hypothesis you are testing. You want
them to act as they normally would. You may want to come up with a cover story so
that you are able to disguise your actual research hypothesis. For example, if in your
informed consent, you disclose that you are going to study their levels of anxiety when
put in hot or cool rooms, you may want to tell them something more general.
 19

LABORATORY ACTIVITY #17: YOUR SCRIPT

When running your experiment, your script is one of the most important things
you will need to ensure that it runs smoothly. To prepare your script, a table similar to
this would be helpful.

TIME ACTIVITY PERSON SCRIPT

INVOLVED
0:00-00:05 Establish rapport with (Mention the group (What will you
the member) say?)
participants/subjects

Distribution of the
informed consent.
Going through your
informed consent
with the subjects

Obtaining your
informed consent
Distribution of pretest
instruments
Randomly assigning
your participants into
the experimental and
control groups
Doing your
intervention
Distribution of
posttest instruments
Debriefing your
subjects
Thanking your
subjects
 20

LABORATORY ACTIVITY #18: DRY RUN OF THE EXPERIMENT IN CLASS

Each group will be given 30 minutes to do a dry run of their experiment in class.
The ‘participants’ will then critique the dry run and suggest ways to improve the
experiment so that it runs smoothly. The following will be considered:

 The organization of the group

 How well the experiment was run
 Ethical considerations
 How the group members were interacting with the subjects and with each other

Each group is expected to grade the other groups based on rubrics that will be
announced. At the same time, each group is also expected to give recommendations
on how the other groups can improve their relationship further.

LABORATORY ACTIVITY #19: CONDUCTING YOUR EXPERIMENT

A checklist of things to do before you run your experiment:

• Make sure that the role of each group member is clearly defined.
• Prepare your informed consent forms.
• Secure the necessary permits to conduct the experiment within campus.
• Make sure you have a minimum of 30 for each group.
• Make sure your materials, if any, are ready.
• Make sure your script is ready.
 21

LABORATORY ACTIVITY #20: DEBRIEFING YOUR SUBJECTS

Study Debriefing
Sample Script
Adapted from FSU Office of Research

This study is concerned with [state your topic]. Previous studies have found that
[mention some points you’ve found in your Review of Literature].

How was this tested?

In this study, you were asked to perform [describe your experiment in detail]

Hypotheses and main questions:

We expect to find that [state your hypothesis in layman’s terms].

We are also interested in [state what else you are trying to study]. So, we
expected [state what you expected]

Why is this important to study?

[Mention how this can contribute to the body of knowledge in psychology]
What if I want to know more?
If you are interested in learning more about the problems people encounter in
trying to control their thoughts, you may want to read:

[APA Style: include maybe 1 or 2 articles.] If you would like to receive a report of this
research when it is completed (or a summary of the findings), please contact
(Researcher Name) at (Researcher phone number and Researcher email).

If you have concerns about your rights as a participant in this experiment, please
contact the [Experimental Psychology professor at email address]
 22

Thank you again for your participation.

LABORATORY ACTIVITY #21: RESEARCHERS’ UPDATE (50 Points)

Once the activity is over, you will be asked to present your experience in class.
The following questions will be used as a guide:

 What worked?
 What didn’t work?
 What would you have done differently?
 As a group, what were your strengths?
 As a group, what were your weaknesses?
 In what ways was your experience difficult?

LABORATORY ACTIVITY #22: DATA ANALYSIS AND REPORTING RESULTS (50

POINTS)

Now that you have collected your data, you will be expected to analyze your
results. We will be doing this in class so I can guide you accordingly. You will then be
asked to present your results in class. I will guide you on how to present your results
APA style as well. Please bring the actual test papers to class and input the data in
class.

In selecting which statistical tool is appropriate, you should ask yourself the
following questions:
(1) How many independent variables are there?
(2) How many treatment conditions are there?
(3) Is the experiment run between- or within-subjects?
(4) Are the subjects matched?
(5) What is the level of measurement of the dependent variables?
 23

LABORATORY ACTIVITY #23: DEFENDING YOUR WORK

In a research paper defense, you have to make necessary preparations. For

instance, you have to ensure that you check the major parts of your paper for any
possible questions that your panel may have at the time of your defense. Additionally,
you must give your work to your panel at least a week before your defense to allow
them to review your paper more thoroughly.

The PowerPoint Presentation for your defense should only include important
parts of your paper. They would typically include one slide for the following:

a. Introduction
b. Methods
c. Results
d. Analysis
e. Discussion

Ideally, keep your presentation within 15 minutes to give a chance for the Panel
to clarify what you have written in your paper. They may ask you about your theoretical
framework, your conceptual framework, your sample size, and especially your results.
Your paper does not end with the results. It ends with how your results will contribute to
the body of research on that topic.

Remember, you are the experts on your paper. Ensure that you know exactly
what you did and that you can communicate this with your groupmates so that if the
panel members ask you questions, you are able to respond to these questions
effectively and efficiently.
 24

RUBRICS FOR GROUPWORK

CRITERIA APPRENTICE BASIC LEARNED EXEMPLARY

One person Some students Most students

Decision Making dominates decision contribute to decision contribute to Students contribute to
(10%) making making decision making decision making

Students pay Body and/or verbal Students respect and

Students frequently attention to the group responses indicate encourage the views
interrupt and/or put discussion. Some active listening. of others. Students
down the views of students ask Most students ask ask questions or
others. Students do questions and build questions and build clarification. Students
Social Interaction not ask questions or on others' on others' build on others'
(20%) clarification comments. comments comments.

Students do not
contribute in any Some students Most students Students consistently
positive way to the contribute positively contribute positively contribute in a positive
Contributing (20%) group work to the group work. to the group work. way to the group work.

Most students
Students exhibit on- Students exhibit on- exhibit on-task Students exhibit on-
On Task Behavior task behavior task behavior some behavior most of task behavior
(20%) inconsistently of the time. the time. consistently

With assistance, Students complete a

students are able to clear and logical
sequence steps. Students complete sequence of steps.
Rush to complete a sequence of Complete task with
With assistance, task. Division of steps. Complete form, reflection, and
students have tasks and task on time. The revision. Members
Group Structure difficulty sequencing responsibilities is leader assigns volunteer to take
and Functioning steps. Task Is not efficient and wastes responsibilities and responsibilities and
(30%) completed on time time. tasks. roles.
 25

RUBRICS FOR WRITTEN SUMMARIES OF JOURNAL ARTICLES

EXEMPLARY APPRENTICE BASIC LEARNED

Appropriate details Judicious choice of Enough critical Most important Some critical
10 details, maximizes details presented details included but details missing,
interest and for understanding, may include too unnecessary
understanding unnecessary much or too little details may be
details generally detail for easy present.
omitted. understanding
Statement of Place of study in General relevance Attempt made to No attempt made
context, relevance field clearly of study in field place in context, to describe context
in field of described, described possibly not quite of study.
psychology illuminating links to appropriately.
15 other studies or
topics made
Writer’s Evaluation Clearly articulated, Good attempt at Some attempt at No attempt to
of the study well supported evaluation with evaluation, evaluate study or
15 statements of some support for comments valid but evaluative
value and/or conclusions; not necessarily statements
shortcomings of possibly more well supported unsupported or
study negative than inappropriate.
positive comments.
Overall Overall purpose, Purpose, methods, Purpose, methods, Major sections
organization methods, results results, and results, and missing or lack of
15 and conclusions of conclusions stated; conclusions stated; logical flow.
study clearly possibly some possibly some
stated; seemingly awkwardness in awkwardness in
effortless and logical flow. logical flow.
seamless logical
flow
Clarity of Sophisticated use Most explanations Overall meaning is Serious difficulty
explanations of language clear and easy to understandable; explaining ideas,
15 maximizes interest, understand, mostly possibly some major factual
enjoyment, and factually correct. areas of slight errors; lack of
comprehension; confusion or minor comprehensibility.
explanations very factual errors
clear, factually
correct
Use of terminology Correct use of all Few errors in use Most terms used Jargon terms used
15 terminology, of terminology; correctly, possibly incorrectly, without
attention to definitions provided some incorrect definition;
nuances of for technical terms, usage or use of attempting to
meaning, judicious overuse of jargon unnecessary or sound scientific
use of clearly avoided. undefined jargon. without
defined jargon understanding
meaning of terms
Writing Style Sophisticated, Good basic writing Mostly basic, Serious errors and
15 elegant style, style, easy to read, correct writing awkwardness,
complex yet lucid few errors, almost style, relatively few excessive use of
sentence structure, entirely in author’s errors and little quotation in place
flawless grammar own words, little awkwardness, of author’s own
paraphrasing or minimal use of words, excessive
unnecessary unnecessary paraphrasing.
quotation. quotation or
paraphrasing.
 26

RUBRICS FOR SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

APPRENTICE LEARNED BASIC APPRENTICE

(60%-74%) (75%-80%) (81%-89%) (90%-100%)
Content (35%) Content Content relates Answer is Answer is
unrelated to peripherally to appropriate to appropriate to
question. the question; the question. the question.
contains Content may Content is
significant factual have one or two factually correct.
errors. factual errors.
Organization Lacks clear Logic of May lack a thesis Clear sense of
(30%) organizational argument is sentence, but order. Begins
plan. Reader is minimally points are with a thesis or
confused. perceivable. presented in a topic sentence.
Points presented logical Supporting points
in a seemingly progression. are presented in
random fashion, a logical
but all support progression.
argument.
Development Statements are Sparse details or Each point Develops each
(20%) unsupported by evidence. supported with point with many
any detail or Question only some details and specific details.
explanation. partially evidence. All Answers
answered. important points question
included. completely.
Use of Language Limited Ordinary word Accurate word Uses technical or
(15%) vocabulary; choice; use of choice. No more scientific
errors impair scientific than 2 major terminology
communication. terminology errors and a few appropriately and
avoided. Some minor errors. correctly. No
serious errors major
that don’t impair grammatical or
communication. spelling errors.
 27

RUBRICS FOR CLASS PRESENTATIONS

EXEMPLARY LEARNED BASIC APPRENTICE

Organization Audience cannot Audience has Student presents Student presents
(20%) understand difficulty information in a information in
presentation following logical sequence logical,
because there is presentation which the interesting
no sequence of because student audience can sequence which
information. switches topics. follow audience can
follow.
Subject Student does not Student is Student is at Student
Knowledge have grasp of uncomfortable ease with demonstrates full
(45%) information; with information expected knowledge (more
student cannot and is able to answers to all than required) by
answer answer only questions but answering all
questions about rudimentary fails to elaborate. class questions
the subject questions. with explanations
and elaboration.
Graphics (10%) Student uses Student Student’s Presentation has
superfluous occasionally graphics relate to no misspellings
graphics or no uses graphics text and or grammatical
graphics that rarely presentation. errors.
support text and
presentation.
Mechanics (5%) Student’s Presentation has Presentation has Student’s
presentation has 4 misspellings no more than 2 graphics explain
6 or more and/or misspellings and reinforce
spelling errors grammatical and/or screen text and
and/or errors. grammatical presentation.
grammatical errors.
errors
Eye Contact Student reads Student Student Student
(5%) entire report with occasionally maintains eye maintains eye
no eye contact. uses eye contact most of contact with
contact, but still the time but audience,
reads most of frequently seldom returning
report. returns to notes. to notes.
Elocution (10%) Student Student’s voice Student’s voice Student uses a
mumbles, is low. Student is clear. Student clear voice and
incorrectly incorrectly pronounces most correct, precise
pronounces pronounces words correctly. pronunciation of
terms, and terms. Audience Most audience terms so that all
speaks too members have can hear members can
quietly for difficulty hearing presentation. hear
students in the presentation. presentation.
back of the class
to hear.
 28

REFERENCES:

Commonsense Psychology. Society for the Teaching of Psychology, Division 2,

American Psychological Society

Myers, Anne & Christine Hansen (2015). Experimental Psychology, 7th Edition.
Andover: Cengage Learning.

On Being Sane in Insane Places by David L. Rosenhan. Science, New Series, Vol. 179,
No. 4070. (Jan. 19, 1973), pp. 250-258.Copyright 1973 by the American
Association for the Advancement of Science.

Psychological Association of the Philippines Code of Ethics (2009)

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, (6th ed., 2nd printing).
SAMPLE DEBRIEFING. Adapted from FSU Office of Research. Retrieved from
https://www.fsu.edu/search/results.html?cx=001481282910879549110%3A7l5zcr
hp_cg&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=UTF-8&q=Debriefing+your+subjects last June 2019