Research Guidelines

Conducting and Analyzing Your Research

Psychology is based on science, so learning psychology entails learning how to do research with human subjects. In many of your Psychology courses, you will be required to do lab projects, or original research of your own design (e.g. in Psyc 212, Psyc 230 & Psyc 204). Link to Dr. Janet Waters' handout on Scientific Reasoning in Psychology, and her guidelines & information on conducting and analyzing your research using the various research strategies that you may employ in your class projects. There are research guidelines on:
Conducting an Interview; Conducting an Observation; Case Study;  Experiment; Correlational Study; Survey; Phenomenological Study; Content Analysis.

Research Ethics

Make sure you abide by the Capilano University standards for ethical research with human subjects. Link here for information and ethical guidelines, an ethics checklist, & a sample consent form.

Presenting your Findings:

Writing your lab report

To write up your projects, use APA Format for Research Projects for the guidelines for the format of a lab report. You can link here for a sample research report. 

Poster or Power Point Presentations

You might be required to present your research findings to your classmates in a poster presentation or a power point presentation. Link here for tips on making a readable & professional looking poster. In some classes you would do a power point presentation instead of a poster presentation; check with your instructor. As with the poster presentation, make sure you include the Introduction (brief review of past research & theory in your topic), your hypothesis & Method, your Results, & the main points from your Discussion.