Week 5 Discussion – Start thinking about your Research Project

Note: In the upcoming (Week 6) research project you are going to pick two groups of people (15 men and 15 women) and have them fill out a   about their level of optimism. The data from this survey will be put into a provided excel template (located in the Week 5 module). After results are populated, you will analyze the data, integrating the use of the provided   (located in the Week 5 module). 

The instructions for this week's discussion board are:

 

Instructions for Initial Post

In your initial post, due by 11:59pm EST on Day 4, you are going to start your exploration of your research project that is due at the end of Week 6.

For the nature of this discussion you are going to explore and discuss ideas on this project along with the scholarly and non-scholarly resources. Things to include in your postings and reply:

· Methodology: How are you going to obtain your data?

· What are some key points that you grabbed from the scholarly and non-scholarly resource?

· As per assignment instructions, you need to include ONE additional resource in your paper. Share your thoughts, in this discussion board, about such an additional resource that you found. 

This discussion is meant to be exploratory as you brainstorm ideas for this project. Feel free to add any questions about the project but please make note to contact your instructor if you need immediate feedback.

Be sure to properly cite the additional resource at the bottom of your initial post.

Optimism Research Project Material for Week 5

This lesson will cover the following topics:

· Research Project Instructions

· Scholarly Journal Article

· Non-Scholarly Article

· Questionnaire

· Instructions to help Analyze Data

· Excel Template

Note: You are being given early access to these materials which concern the Optimism Project you'll be submitting in Week 6. This is to help you prepare for the project ahead of time and to aid you in the Week 5 Discussion board. You will see these exact same documents again in the Week 6 module.

Note: Use the spreadsheet provided here for the project. Do not make your own spreadsheet. The spreadsheet provided here has places for you to put your data, and will automatically generate the frequency polygons and give you the p-value for the 2-sample t-test if filled out correctly. After filling it out, you will be submitting it with your project.

Research Project Instructions

Instructions

Students will read a scholarly journal article and a non-scholarly article about a specific topic that will be provided in the course.  Items to consider when reading the articles include noting the issue, methodology, and results.  

 

Students will choose two groups of people (15 each, 30 total) and collect data by requesting 30 people to complete a questionnaire provided in the course.  Fifteen of the questionnaires must be completed by men and 15 of the questionnaires must be completed by women. 

 

Students must enter the data into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that is provided in the course, and then analyze the data.  Students will read the data set instructions that are located in the course for additional details about what statistical procedures to conduct.  Tables and graphs must be copied and integrated into a Word doc in final submission. Excel file must also be submitted.

 

Students will develop an  APA formatted, written  report that contains the following sections:

· Introduction: Briefly summarize the concept (approximately 300 words)

· Refer to the scholarly peer-reviewed article and the non-scholarly article to discuss the concept. 

· Methodology: Briefly describe the following with regard to data collection (make a separate heading for each subheading below):

· Participants

· Discuss any important demographic information such as age of participants etc.

· Materials

· Describe the questionnaire—number of items and the response set (i.e. the Likert scale options)

· Procedure

· Describe how the data was collected –how did you find participants and ask them to participate

· Results: Briefly summarize the statistical findings from the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and address the questions in the data set instructions about the data. This section will include a frequency polygon and content from the textbook as students answer questions about the results. Tables and graphs from Excel Spreadsheet must be integrated into the results section of this paper. Students will also assume normality and apply an independent t-test to analyze if the difference between two groups is statistically significant. Refer to the data set instructions for guidelines on what to include in the results section.   

· Discussion: Briefly summarize the interpretation of the findings (i.e. what do the findings mean in relation to the concept) (approximately 300 words)

· APA Format: Include APA references for a t least 3 sources  (two provided resources and one additional resource) used in this report (i.e. journal article, non-scholarly or peer-reviewed article, or textbook). In-text citations need to be appropriately used and correct.

 

Students will submit the final paper and excel file by 11:59 PM Eastern on Day 7 of Week 6.

Articles

Click on the links below to access the following articles.

  

Sheehy, G. (2011, October 4). Girlfriends are key to women's optimism. Retrieved from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/wellness/new-passages/story/2011/10/Girlfriends-are-key-to-womens-optimism/50646428/1