BSC302: Explains the Rationale of the Study, Including the Psychological Causal Model: Advanced Quantitative Research Methods Assignment, MU, Singapore

Introduction

The assignment consists of choosing a psychological causal model developed by other researchers (or developing a new psychological causal model), designing a psychological experiment to compare this model to a simpler one, simulating data, organising and analysing those data, and presenting a research report, including graphs. The assignment contains 3 elements:

1. Two graphical psychological causal models.
2. An organised data frame of simulated data.
3. A research report of a maximum of 750 words that follow the guidelines of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 7th Edition.

Psychological causal models

On a separate page from the research report, present two psychological causal models. One of the models (complex model) contains two causal variables and one consequence variable, and the other model (simple model) contains only one of the causal variables of the complex model and the same consequence variable as the complex model. The models must have the structure is shown below:

Data frame

Also separated from the extended abstract, present a data frame in a table with the following characteristics:

Column 1: Participant number or ID
Column 2: Participant’s age
Column 3: Participant’s gender
Column 4: Independent variable 1
Column 5: Independent variable 2
Column 6: Dependent variable

You will produce the values for each of these columns (variables) by the method of data simulation. Week 6 is fully dedicated to the research report, and a full explanation of the data simulation process will be provided there.

Research report

The research report should contain the following sections:

• Introduction: Explains the rationale of the study, including the psychological causal model. It states the hypothesis tested in the study in terms of which model will receive more support from the data.[approximately between 140 and 190 words]
• Method: Contains the details necessary for another researcher to replicate the study. It includes the subsections “Participants”, “Material” “Procedure”, “Data Analysis”. [approximately between 240 and 290 words]
• Results: It presents descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (Bayesian linear regression and Bayes factors), including graphs. [the graphs are NOT included in the word count] [approximately between 240 and 290 words]
• Discussion: It indicates which model received more support from the data, whether the hypothesis was supported by the data, and it relates the results of the present study with previous research. It also discusses the limitations of the study and offers suggestions for future research.