H344 Cinical Psychology

Task:

The laboratory report

This assessment is designed to provide you with practical experience at preparing a laboratory report from a simple research design. The report that you write from this study will be worth 40% of the final unit grade for HPS121, and 30% of the final grade for HPY713 students. The report must be no longer than 2000 words (not including abstract and reference list). It is due by 8pm (AEDT) on (Week 6) via the assignment dropbox on the page.

Assignment rationale

Why do we get you to write a laboratory report? Because laboratory reports (also known as lab reports, research reports, or journal articles) are the core method we use in psychology to disseminate research findings. Laboratory reports require a clear understanding of the scientific method to flow logically, as well as the ability to write concisely. We hope to help you develop these skills in this assessment, along with a few others:

1. You will gain an understanding of constructs by which we evaluate our lives, and how these can be measured.

This is important because these evaluative constructs can be used to assess different aspects of life satisfaction, which have implications for policy and intervention.

2. You will learn how to apply these evaluative constructs to recent psychological research and develop skills that allow you to expand scientific knowledge in the area of interest.

By writing this laboratory report you should gain an understanding of how psychological science builds on and expands previous knowledge, and how you can contribute to the development of this knowledge.

3. You will develop your analytic and communication skills. Many of you may be aiming to go on and do second and third year psychology, then perhaps complete post- graduate studies in psychology or other disciplines. As you will be writing laboratory reports in these courses (as laboratory reports are the primary means of communication in the psychological field) it is very important that you learn the basic skills of how to write a laboratory report in first year. This is why we dedicate many HPS121 seminars (seminars 1 to 5) to help you in your understanding of the requirements of a good laboratory report. Even if you do not plan to continue beyond first year psychology, research has shown that both employers and recent graduates rate written communication skills as an important factor affecting one’s employability.