PSY 512 Research Design & Measurement
Field Assignments
To complete the fieldwork assignments for this course, students are to identify a topic of interest
and complete a detailed proposal for a study they would like to complete. The field assignments
will account for about 40 percent of your course grade. There are templates for each of the first
three field assignments. Please download them (they are Word documents) and use them!
We will generally follow APA guidelines for writing field assignments. As a general rule, use 12
pt. Times New Roman font, with 1-inch margins all around. However, use single spacing and a
double space between paragraphs or sections as needed for readability for F1, F2, and F3. Use
headings when appropriate.
NOTE: You are not required to actually conduct your proposed study as part of this course.
However, if you decide to conduct it in the future (as a graduate thesis or other project),
remember that before you can collect any data you must have gained human subjects approval.
That is especially true if you have any intention to report your data at a conference or in a
publication (as opposed to just completing a class project). Please consider that you cannot gain
human subjects approval after the fact.
F1. Preliminary research question and participants. ½ single-spaced page that includes
guiding research question
potential data sources including
study subjects. Include why these persons would be good data sources to address your
question
event/situation/procedure/etc. that you will investigate. Include why this would be a
useful event/situation/etc. to investigate for your research question.
F2. Planned study protocols. 1 single-spaced page that includes
guiding research question
study protocol(s)
potential study methods, based on what you currently know
brief description of the study subjects & setting(s)
the procedures your study subjects would complete as part of the study
note the overall timeline of the study as it would happen
measures you plan to use, as appropriate
ethical considerations
potential risks to the subjects, as well as potential benefits
discussion of how your study design would address those risks (e.g., confidentiality)
any future contacts with these subjects, and how those might impact the study.
F3. Updated methods and analysis plan, 1 single-spaced page that includes
guiding research question
overview of your proposed data collection methods, including any updates since F2
description of and justification for the analysis/analyses you plan to use to evaluate the
data collected for the proposed study
current hypotheses (predictions) based on your guiding question, proposed methods, and
planned analyses
F4. WIP report – for this field assignment you will formally share your research question
(including brief literature review), proposed methods, analysis plan, and expected results with a
small group of your peers. Time allocations will be determined later in the semester. Grades for
this presentation will be developed from peer evaluations. Included in your own score will be
consideration of your efforts as an evaluator. This will be developed from the peer evaluations
you conducted (how complete were they, were they critical and thoughtful).
See rubrics for details
F5. Final Proposal and Learnings - written, 5-7 (or more) double-spaced pages that include
literature review pointing to the need for your proposed study
guiding question
hypothesis(es) addressing all parts of your guiding question
proposed methodology – including study type, measures, participants/research sites,
ethical considerations, data collection timeline, and study procedures
proposed analysis – a clear explanation of and justification for the analytic methods
proposed for this study
o If quantitative: includes discussion of specific statistical tests, how they will be
used (e.g., what specific variables will be evaluated, and how), and why they are
appropriate for this data
o If qualitative: includes a rich description of the analysis plan, including
proposed/possible codes with definitions and explanations
o If mixed methods: includes the above elements as necessary per the study design
discussion of study impact and significance, including what the results of your research
would mean for the field and the broader research literature
o Be sure to include consideration of what the findings would mean regardless of
whether your own expectations/hypotheses are correct or incorrect – what would
it mean if you’re right, but also what would it mean if you’re wrong?
Personal methodological & ethical learnings, issues, dilemmas, etc. (this is a reflective
section—it’s about you!)
