Life cycle of a butterfly- Discussion.
What are the implications for the initial theory or empirical question
you asked? What do we know now?
Provide alternative explanations of your results?
o Might there have been a confound?
o What other variables should you have been measuring or controlling?
o Might these results have been different with a different sample?
o (e.g., men v. women, different social or cultural group)-why might you
expect this to be the case? Don’t simply state, “women and men should be
studied.” You must have a plausible reason for why men and women
would be different on this particular theoretical construct.
What were the limitations of your study for Internal Validity?
o From the way you operationally defined or measured your variables?
o From the overall design or larger research approach?
Limitations to External Validity, in terms of:
o Your experimental manipulation / independent variable:
o Was it realistic? Is this how it would work outside the lab?
o Did it really reflect the hypothetical construct you were interested in?
o Your assessment of the outcome / dependent variable:
o Did it reflect the relevant construct?
o The research setting or context:
o Was this setting representative of the way things work outside the lab?
o Problems with your sample or sampling procedure. Don’t use yea-saying
and nay-saying unless you have evidence in your sample. For
example, percentage who said the same number for all questions.
Conclusion: 4 points
What do we now know about your research topic and how does it
inform the “big picture”?
How has psychological theory been (or not been…) advanced?
What basic descriptive or other data do we now have about the research
topic that we did not have before?
Future Directions for Research and Applications:
What other research follows from this; what should your next study be?
Think about how the current study could be expanded-what questions
should be addressed in terms of research
How would you apply the conclusions of your study to the “real world?”
Think about how the current study could help society with a current
problem, that is, how your findings could help to address or
understand a current societal problem.
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