STAT1103 / STAX1103 Research Report

For your research report assessment task, you are to write up an empirical, quantitative psychology
research study as if you were the researcher who conducted it. The structure and requirements of
this report align with the APA guidelines for writing empirical research papers (as found in the APA
Publication Manual).
This document will provide you with the details you need to write up your research report. Your
tutorial time will work through some of this content. Your job for the research report is to write this
up in proper psychology report format: you cannot copy and paste this content [with the exception
of the hypotheses] into your report!
Have a good read through this document, as well as all the Research Report Resources (posted on
iLearn). You also need to consult the APA manual. You will also be given a dataset (via iLearn),
containing the data obtained from the study.
Starter References
Curtis, G.J., Clare, J., Vieira, E., Selby, E., & Jonason, P.K. (2022). Predicting contract cheating
intentions: Dark personality traits, attitudes, norms, and anticipated guilt and shame.
Personality and Individual Differences, 185, 111277.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111277
Jones, D.N., & Paulhus, D.L. (2014). Introducing the Short Dark Triad (SD3): A brief measure
of dark personality traits. Assessment, 21(1), 28-41.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191113514105
Lee, S.D., Kuncel, N.R., & Gau, N. (2020). Personality, attitude, and demographic correlates
of academic dishonesty: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 146(11), 1042-1058.
https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000300
Ternes, M., Babin, C., Woodworth, A., & Stephens, S. (2019). Academic misconduct: An
examination of its association with the dark triad and antisocial behavior. Personality and
Individual Differences, 138, 75-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.09.031
You need to read these papers as part of your research report preparation (find them on Leganto)
and should cite all of them in your report. There is NO set additional number of papers to read and
cite!!
Study Hypotheses
The study investigated the relationships between narcissism, psychopathy, and the intention and
behaviour of engaging in contract cheating.
The specific hypotheses are:
1. Higher levels of psychopathy will be associated with greater intention to engage in
contract cheating
2. Higher levels of narcissism will be associated with greater intention to engage in
contract cheating

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3. People who report having engaged in contract cheating will report higher levels of
psychopathy than those who report no previous engagement
4. People who report having engaged in contract cheating will report higher levels of
narcissism than those who report no previous engagement
Note: these hypotheses are the only things from this document that CAN (and should!) be copied
and pasted word-for-word into your report. Your report must cover all of these hypotheses.
Data
You will receive access to a dataset posted on iLearn during Week 3 or 4. You will need to summarise
and analyse the data in order to present the relevant content for the method section and results
section of your report. Each student will be randomly allocated to a version of the data file (there are
multiple versions) so that each student’s results will be slightly different. You must write up the
results from YOUR version of the data file. It can be considered an issue of academic integrity if you
do not use your own data file for the report.
Methods
The dataset that you will receive will contain the data obtained from the study. This information
below explains details of the methods. Also consult the full study materials at the end of this
document.
Participants:
• Sample consisted of 200 undergraduate students from Macquarie University
• Participants were recruited via flyers across campus
• Demographic information collected includes age, gender, and year of study
Study Design and Materials:
• A non-experimental study using an online survey
• Psychopathy and narcissism were measured using their respective subscales from the Short
Dark Triad (D3-Short; Jones & Paulhus, 2014)
• Participants indicated on a scale of 0 to 100, the extent to which they intended to engage in
contract cheating
• Participants indicated yes/no as to whether they had previously engaged in contract
cheating
Procedure:
• Students were recruited for the study from January to December 2022
• Participants signed up to the study via a website
• Participants completed an anonymous survey consisting of demographic questions, followed
by the measures of intention and past engagement in contract cheating, and completed the
relevant subscales from the Short Dark Triad
• This study had ethical approval from Macquarie University Human Research Ethics
Committee.

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Results
You’ll need to conduct your own data analysis (from your dataset) to provide the results of the
study. The results section of your report should include both descriptive summary statistics and also
the results of hypothesis testing from statistical analyses (that you’ll need to conduct yourself).
Formatting and writing guidelines
• Generally, your report should follow the APA Publication Manual (7th Edition), unless
specific instructions are provided in this document.
• A running head is not necessary.
• Use Times New Roman font in size 12 point
• On the title page, ensure you include your word count and your tutor’s name
• Each half-report submission should be a maximum of 800 words (total excluding the title
page, abstract, and reference list, but including in-text citations)
o Part 1 should contain a title page, introduction section, method section, and
reference list
o Part 2 should contain a title page, abstract, results section, discussion section, and
reference list
o You are encouraged to change the title of the report from Part 1 to Part 2
submission
o The abstract should be no more than 250 words. The abstract is not counted in the
word limit of Part 2.
• For the results section, tables and figures can be used (but are not compulsory). Any tables
and figures must be situated in the body of the report, not located at the end of the
document, and count towards the word count of your paper. No appendices should be used.
Penalties
• Late penalty: See the unit guide for the late penalty.
• Word limit penalty: You can write an addition up to 99 words over the 800 word limit, per
submission, without penalty. A penalty of 5% of the maximum mark will be deducted for
every additional 100 words over the limit, with penalties commencing at 900 words (per
half report).
Submission instructions
The research report must be submitted electronically via the Turnitin link on iLearn. Turnitin is anti-
plagiarism software that will compare your paper to your classmates' papers, papers from previous
students at Macquarie University and other universities, as well as to ALL material on the Internet
(e.g., the articles you will be citing, miscellaneous websites, etc.). You should take note of the
similarity index of their report when it is uploaded (note that it can take up to 24 hours for the
Turnitin report to be processed).
You can delete and re-upload their report up until the report deadline. You should be aware that
iLearn and Turnitin can lag when large numbers of students are uploading documents at the same
time. Submission time for assignments will be counted as the time the assessment was received, not
the time the uploading began. Because of this, make sure you don't leave your submission to
immediately before it is due!

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To submit to Turnitin:
1. Locate and click on the Research Report Submission link on the iLearn site.
2. Click the “submit paper” link/icon.
3. The Submission Title should be your student ID number and your surname. For example,
41234567_Smith
4. You can upload files in two ways: (a) drag and drop the file from your computer or (b) click
the folder icon and navigate to where in your computer the file is located. Note that either
text (e.g. .doc or .docx) and PDF files are accepted. (You are strongly advised to save your
report as a PDF, and check formatting, BEFORE uploading the PDF to Turnitin!)
5. A receipt will be generated and emailed to you.
6. After the file is uploaded, you should check the submission to ensure it is the correct one
(and check the formatting has remained as it should). The submitted file will be marked as
submitted. If you upload the incorrect file by mistake or there is an error in the file as
uploaded, it is your responsibility to identify this and correct it before the deadline. Late
penalties will not be waived if you only discover this after the deadline has passed.
Academic Integrity
This assessment task must be completed independently and be your own work only. This includes
the writing of the report and the data analysis required. You must write up the results from your
version of the data file; markers will be checking and penalties will be applied if you have not
presented results from your own dataset. Presenting the results of someone else’s dataset can be
considered academic misconduct and may result in in a misconduct investigation. Similarly,
presenting someone else’s work as your own; colluding; lack of appropriate referencing and
paraphrasing: these are all considered academic misconduct and may result in proceedings and
severe penalties. You have all completed the Academic Integrity Module and therefore should be
aware of what appropriate academic conduct is.
Feedback and Improvement
This assessment task has been deliberately split into two parts in order to help you! You will get
detailed feedback on Part 1 of your report, designed to help you improve for Part 2. Even though the
sections of the report in Part 1 are different to Part 2, there are more similarities than differences
across the two submissions, including clarity of expression; formatting, citations, and referencing;
structured argument; use of guiding theory; and so on. Ensure you carefully read through Part 1
feedback and take it on board to improve for Part 2! Part 1 deliberately contributes to a smaller part
of your grade (15%) compared to Part 2 (25%) for this reason, to give you an opportunity to use the
feedback and improve. When assessing Part 2 of your report, your marker will be looking back at the
feedback given in Part 1 to see how well you’ve used it and improved as a result