Florida Atlantic Misinformation Effect in Eyewitness Testimony Research Paper

In the attachments, I have provided a lecture on components of a research paper, a rubric for this Research Demonstration FINAL Paper, our group presentation containing specific information regarding the experiment/demonstration that was done, a copy of one of my group members paper that should ONLY BE USED AS REFERENCE AND CLARIFICATION (I am expecting that the paper you will write will be much better and more detail oriented anyways), a screenshot of how the questions looked to our participants (online data collection), and the results from this data collection.

STEP 5 – DRAFT RESEARCH PAPER (SOLO) [10 FINAL GRADE POINTS]

Write a 1500-word (minimum, no maximum restriction) research paper on your demonstration topic. This paper is to be written alone, NOT WITH YOUR DEMONSTRATION PARTNER(S). Your Group PowerPoint Presentation and any corrective criticism received on the Debriefing should be used as your draft paper outline (and guide). You may use the cites/references you decided upon as a group, or ones that you have found that were not used in the Group PowerPoint (remember, this is now YOUR study not group work).

Components of the Research Paper

All sections required in the Group PowerPoint presentation are required in the paper, but there are some differences, and an Abstract and a Discussion Section should be added (see below). Writing in a paper is expanded (no longer bullet points) and should be APA-compliant.

Title Page.

An title page must include: a running head (that includes a shortened version of your title not exceeding 50 characters and page number); the title of your paper (not more than 12 words long); your full name (as author); and our university name. Absolutely no artwork or fancy fonts allowed.

Abstract.

An abstract is a concise summary of a paper, that briefly describes the study purpose, participants, method and results. The abstract should be a single paragraph, no more than 250 words.

Introduction.

This section introduces (defines) your topic, provides the theoretical background for your hypothesis, and reviews previous literature on research conducted on your psychological concept (if this were an actual investigation, you would try to establish shortcomings of prior research, and let the reader know why your research is important!). The Introduction should be factual (not your opinions), and each fact should be backed up by a credible source that is cited using APA format. You need at least three NEW?not instructor provided?inline citations/references in this regard (note that dozens of citations/references typically backup writing in a published journal article). See the References section below for more detail on required references. Each fact in the Introduction should lead up to a testable hypothesis (discussed below), such that your audience could almost guess your hypothesis before seeing the hypothesis slide. Eliminate any introductory information that is not directly on point or is not needed to define the topic or set the stage for the hypothesis.

The Introduction in a paper is as described above except that the testable hypothesis should appear at the end of the Introduction, instead of appearing on a page alone. Make sure that the hypothesis is readily recognizable; the best way to do this is through an introductory clause like, “This study will investigate the hypothesis that…” or “It is predicted that…”

Methods.

The methods section should contain the standard subsections: Participants, Instruments, and Procedure, which are more fully described below. Make sure that each subsection thoroughly covers only what it is supposed to cover. Although often written before a study is completed, Methods should always be written in past tense (the author does not publish until after the research is conducted). Participants: The Participants subsection describes who the participants were (sex, age, ethnicity, socio-economic status), how they were targeted, and how you incented them to participate. In this instance, your sample is one of convenience (participants recruited from a Social Behavior Lab class at FAU, who participated to earn participation credit in the class). Data from a demographic questionnaire all students complete at the beginning of the semester will be shared with you to prepare this section. Instruments: The Instruments subsection fully describes any written, mechanical, electronic, etc. device used in the study to collect data, with a brief description of the data collected. Although instruments come in many forms, in this case the method of data collection for all demonstrations is online surveys. Procedure. The Procedure subsection explains specifically what was done with participants to test the hypothesis (for this purpose, pretend it was you collecting the data).

Results.

Instructions provided for your specific demonstration will indicate statistical analyses and graphical representations of the data required (and thus indication of what information should be included in this Results section of the PowerPoint). Instructions on how to conduct basic statistical procedures and report results are posted in the Demonstration Project Module on Canvas. ALL RESULTS MUST BE PRESENTED IN AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (APA) FORMAT, WITH APPROPRIATE STATISTICAL NOMENCLATURES AND ABBREVIATIONS.

Discussion.

A Discussion section appears immediately after the Results section, before References. A Discussion section should begin with a concise, one-paragraph summary of the study’s key findings. Discussion should then expand upon the summary, putting study findings into context. New citations are often introduced in discussion, to help accomplish this (this is not a requirement in this paper). Discussion is one place in a scientific paper where researcher opinions are allowed—offer them if you would like. If there were any study limitations, they should be mentioned toward the end of the Discussion section. Conclude the Discussion with a conclusion (this was a separate slide in the Group PowerPoint); this should be a strong paragraph stating the main point of the study one more time, in somewhat different terms than used before, and letting the reader know specifically how this study adds to the existing literature (if you can).

References.

The Reference section in a paper is as described above (for the Group PowerPoint). Unlike other sections, References should begin on a new page. General Notes about APA Formatting. The American Psychological Association prescribes the writing style for manuscripts in all areas of psychology (and other sciences). See the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition. Do NOT ignore this! There are specific rules for font styles and size, indentation, line spacing, reference and cite formats, headings, headers, etc. etc. etc. Every single detail is important! Writing should not be in the first person. Direct quotes should not be used (scientific writers paraphrase and cite/reference the source) Methods should be written in past tense (the procedures were already conducted). If obtaining the manual is not an option for you, go to apastyle.org to learn more about APA-style writing requirements (not the best option, but a close second to the manual

Brief description on topic and demonstration done in class

Demo #9 – Misinformation Effect in Eye-Witness Testimony

Topic Description

The misinformation effect refers to the phenomenon that a person’s memory of an event can change after witnessing an event, based on what they are told or how they are asked a question after the event. Thus, the misinformation effect may result in false memories.

Demonstration Summary

Participants watched a brief video of a car crash, and were then asked two questions:

• How fast were the cars going when they bumped/smashed into each other?
• Did you see any/the broken glass?

Half of the Participants, GROUP B, received Item 1 with the word smashed and Item 2 with the word any, and the other half, GROUP A, received Item 1 with the word bumped and Item 2 with the word the.