Writing a Methods Section & Preparing for Data Analysis

ATTACHED IS MY PREVIOUS RESEARCH PROPOSAL AND THE TWO NEED TO CORRELATE. THE TOPIC IS   TEENS AND GROUP CONFORMITY. IF IT NEEDS CITATIONS PAGE OR COVER PAGE I WILL TIP EXTRA TO    ACCOMODATE YOU DOING THAT. IF IT IS OVER ONE PAGE I WILL ALSO TIP EXTRA.

The purpose of our final Lab Project is to help you write the “Methods” and “Data Analysis” sections of your Final Research Proposal. The assignment has 2 parts:

You will write your final research proposal’s Methods section
You will use identify the statistical tests that you would need to run after conducting your study or experiment you have designed for your final research proposal and write your final research proposal’s Data Analysis section

 
Part 1: Methods Section
As the Literature Review/Paper Introduction answers the “why” of your research study, the Methods section answers the “how” for your study. To be able to do so effectively, the Methods section must answer: who, what, where, and how. Your methods section will be 1-2 pages long and you will present a detailed plan of how you propose to carry out your study, including a description of your participants/subjects, materials, design of the study, and your procedure.
Purpose of a Methods Section in a research paper:

Provides a background for the data
Explains how the data was collected and the study was conducted
Allows other researchers to replicate the study

APA Formatting of the Methods Section:

Written in past-tense traditionally because studies have already been conducted, but for a proposal, you will write in the future tense 
Titled with “Methods” centered (no bold, underline, or italics)
Three subsections (each labeled, left-aligned, and italicized and bold):

Participants
Materials
Procedure

Methods Section Formatting Example

Methods
Participants
Blah, blah, blah…
Materials
Blah, blah, blah…
Procedure
Blah, blah, blah…

Yours will not have the boxes around it, this is just to show you what the formatting might look like in a document.
Subsections:(These questions must be answered in your Methods sections under the following headings.)

Participants/Subjects

Description of who is going to participate in your study
How will you recruit/gather participants for your study? Will they be compensated?
What is the reasoning behind choosing these participants?
Be sure to include control groups in your study design.

Materials

What surveys/instruments will you use to conduct your research study?
If using previously established scales/instruments/surveys, be sure to cite the authors.

Procedure

Outline the logistics of your study: how will you conduct your research study?
Making sure that your reader understands how the methodology you have chosen is appropriate for your specific topic.

 
Part 2: Writing the Data Analysis Section
Before completing this part of your assignment, review the presentation on choosing the correct statistical test.  Download Before completing this part of your assignment, review the presentation on choosing the correct statistical test. 
You will write your Data Analysis section for your final research proposal. This will likely be only one or two paragraphs long, but you will write the details about what you plan to do to analyze your data for your study (if you were actually collecting the data). You demonstrate how each one of your variables will be measured, the outcome of that measurement, and how you will use these data to answer questions using inferential statistical methodologies.
You will answer the following questions:

Is this a qualitative or quantitative study? What will be the measurements be for your variables?

Identify each of your variables and how they will be measured.
It is possible to have both qualitative and quantitative data in your study, you will just identify what types you will be collecting. For example, a personality inventory can provide quantitative scores for each personality type or you may prefer to qualitatively identify your participants by their personality type.

How will you analyze your hypothetical data?

What demographic data will you need? How will you present your demographic data?
Identify the statistical tests needed to draw conclusions in your hypothetical study.
Describe the statistics you will use to test your hypothesis (both descriptive and inferential statistical tests).

 
Submission Format:

You will write all three parts in a document and submit the document for credit. All parts must be clearly labeled and APA formatting is expected.

Part 1: Label as ‘Methods’ and follow the formatting criteria in the assignment
Part 2: Label as ‘Data Analysis’ and follow the formatting criteria in the assignment.

Write in the future tense. You are proposing a study. 
In scientific writing, it is perfectly acceptable to write in the first person.
Spacing and font:

2-4 pages
Font options (name & size): Calibri 12, Arial 11, Lucida Sans Unicode 10, Times New Roman 12, or Georgia 11
Double spaced, 1 margins
Paragraph formatting and writing at the college level expected

 Organization:

Methods section must follow APA formatting for Student papers.  (Links to an external site.)

Use the notes in the assignment (above) for guidelines.

Clearly label each part (centered, bold)

Citation format: APA

All formatting should follow APA formatting guidelines

Submission format: .docx, doc, .pdf, .rtf ONLY (It is your responsibility to check your submissions and make sure they are in the appropriate format that I can access. I cannot access google docs links or PAGES. You need to save the file in one of these formats.)