2007PSY Biological Psychology Assignment - Griffith

Assignment Overview

The goal of this assignment is to practice critically analysing behavioural neuroscientific literature in order to develop a research proposal. You will be provided with a neuroscience research article and asked to critically analyse the article. Based on that analysis, you will need to propose a new research study that addresses a limitation of the research reported in the provided article. The study proposed will need to have a specific aim and hypothesis that can be addressed using neuroscience methods. The research proposal will be “written-up” in a lab-report format, with the following sections:

1. A Title Page in APA format

2. An Introduction (around 650 words) that includes the following elements:

• An introductory paragraph that clearly orients the reader to the broad research area
• A one- to two-paragraph summary of the behavioural neuroscience article provided that concisely and accurately summarises the research
• A one- to two-paragraph critical analysis of the behavioural neuroscience article provided that identifies and clearly discusses a novel and meaningful limitation and/or gap in the study
• A final paragraph describing the aim and hypothesis of a proposed behavioural neuroscience research study which addresses the limitation or gap raised in the critical analysis of the provided article

 3. A brief Method section (around 350 words) that includes the following elements:

• A Method Summary that briefly describes an experimental design, participants, behavioural task, and neuroscience technique (e.g., fMRI, EEG) that could be used to test the proposed study hypothesis and that follows the principles of human research ethics.
• A Method rationale describing how the proposed method addresses the study aims and can test the hypothesis proposed in the introduction. The rationale also justifies the use of an appropriate neuroscience measurement technique in relation to the study.

4. An APA formatted references section and appendix acknowledging AI use if relevant

The total maximum allowed words is 1000 (i.e., you CANNOT go 10% over and write 1100 words). If you go over the word count, the markers will not read/grade the extra work. All sections in the research proposal, except the reference section and title page are included in your word count (if you wish to use tables and figures, those will also count in the word count).

Research Proposal Background and Behavioural Neuroscience Article: Social Media and the Brain

 From the advent of platforms such as Six Degrees in the late 1990s and Myspace in the early 2000s, the use of social media in the general population has exploded and is consequently having a profound impact on the human experience. For this assignment, you will be critically analysing the following article related to social media and the brain, and proposing a new study based on a limitation and/or research gap identified in your critical analysis:

The Research Proposal

 Your critical analysis and proposed research study based on Sherman et al. (2018) will follow the style of a lab report introduction and method. As such, the following general resources developed by the university on lab report writing will be of use:

l resources developed by the university on lab report writing will be of use:

• The Health Group Writing and Reference Guide
• Redbook Writing Guide for Writing Psychology Lab Reports

The paragraphs below detail the important information to include in each section of the research proposal.

Title Page 

The title page should include an appropriate report title, your name, student number, course, tutor, and word count. An appropriate report title is one that is between 7 – 15 words in length, uses key words to communicate the main message/ideas from the research proposal, and gets straight to the point.

The title page should also include an acknowledgement of any use of generative artificial intelligence (if relevant).

Introduction

The first section of the research proposal should be written up as if it were an Introduction for a lab report. This introduction should tell a clear story about the proposed research study and be around 650 words in length. It should follow a funnelling approach by beginning broadly and gradually narrowing in focus to end with a specific aim and hypothesis for a study. The following sections are required:

• An opening paragraph on the research field and broad aim of the study that clearly highlights the importance of the research area by making links to theory and/or practice. It should include scientific literature to support statements and definitions of key terms relevant to the research field.
• A one- to two-paragraph literature review (i.e. summary) that describes the study conducted by Sherman et al. (2018). It should clearly, concisely, and accurately describe the primary aim/research question addressed in the study, the methods used to address the research question/aim, the key behavioural and neuroscientific findings of the paper as they pertain to the primary research question/aim, and the overall conclusions of the authors. Key terms should be defined and cited where necessary.
• A one- to two-paragraph critical analysisof Sherman et al. (2018) that accurately identifies a novel research gap and/or a limitation of the study, and that clearly discusses how this meaningfully impacts the overall conclusions/generalisations which can be made based on the data presented in the paper. The analysis should include appropriate scientific literature to support claims and strengthen the depth of arguments.
• A novel research gap/limitation is one that has not already been proposed by Sherman et al. (2018) in their Discussion. If a non-novel limitation is identified, lower marks will be awarded.
• A meaningful research gap/limitation is one that impacts the conclusions that can be made based on the data. A good (but non-exhaustive) test for determining if a limitation/research gap is meaningful is to ask the following question: If I addressed this study limitation or gap in a new experiment, would the field move forward? In this assignment, a non-meaningful limitation would be stating that the sample size was too small in the previous work and running the same study as Sherman et al. (2018) with more participants.
• A final paragraph that includes a clear statement of the study aim that succinctly explains the purpose of the research and a hypothesis. Your hypothesis should be written in past tense and be justified by the critical analysis you have included as well as supported by scientific literature.

Method Section 

Rather than writing a full lab-report Method, the Method of the research proposal should summarise the experimental design and research methods you think would be most appropriate for addressing your study aim and testing your research hypothesis. The proposed Method should be around 350 words and include the following sections:  

• Method summary:Describe the research design you would use to test the hypothesis (identify the independent variable [including levels] and dependent variables), and the participants who would complete the study. Briefly describe the behavioural task you would have participants complete while their brain activity is measured and identify the neuroscience method you would use to measure participant’s brain activity while they complete the behavioural task (i.e., fMRI or EEG). Your proposed study should broadly follow the principles of human research ethics.
• Method rationale: After describing the overall design of the study, you should clearly explain the rationale underlying the study method.This will involve describing how the study method addresses the study aim and tests the hypothesis proposed in the Introduction, as well as justifying why the chosen neuroscience measurement technique is most appropriate for assessing the brain-behaviour relationships being explored in the proposed study. For example, if you choose to use fMRI in your study design, you will need to consider the strengths and limitations of fMRI and explain why it is the best technique for measuring neural activity in your study. You do not need to provide citations for this rationale.