The objective of this assignment is for you to propose studies that extend an existing line of research and answer the question “Couple Similarity and Marital Satisfaction: Are Similar Spouses Happier?” In this assignment, you must think like a relationships researcher as much as you can. For this assignment, you will review the research on a specific topic in the psychology of intimate relationships (Couple Similarity and Marital Satisfaction: Are Similar Spouses Happier?) Importantly, you are not going to propose one study in great detail; rather you need to explain to your reader what your research question is, why it is important, how it builds upon previous research, what you would hypothesize, how you would test it, and what the theoretical/practical applications would be if your hypothesis was correct. The paper should be 5-6 double-spaced pages (not including title page and references.) Font must be 12-point Times New Roman and follow an APA style format. The goal is to propose the next step in a specific line of researchthis means that the majority of the articles you cite should be recent (2010 – present). Also, this course is about the psychology of intimate/romantic relationshipsbe sure your sources reflect this (use journal articles from journals in psychology, relationships, and sexuality). You should have at least 10 peer-reviewed journal articles that you reference in your paper. The paper should follow the following guidelines: Introduction (10%) – Have an interesting hook – Provide a specific hypothesis – Explain why this topic is relevant/important to study – Foreshadow what will come in the rest of your paper Summary and Critique of Previous Research (35%) – Summarize relevant work in a clear and concise manner, going into the most detail for the most important papers, and summarizing other work more briefly – Critically analyze the relevant papers, be sure to discuss both strengths and weaknesses – Integrate and summarize ideas across studies (do not just talk about each study/paper separately) – Be sure your sources are recent and appropriate, and squarely on a topic within the psychology of intimate/romantic relationships. Proposal (30%) – Clearly describe your proposed study without going into detail about specific scales or statistical tests that you would use in your study – Discuss who will be in your study (what is the criteria for participating, will you recruit couples) – Discuss the study design (is this a longitudinal study? An experiment (what will participants do)? An in-lab study?) – What will you assess (you can talk about the constructs of interest, but do not need to cite specific measures) – Ensure that the study is feasible, presented convincingly, and follows logically from the previous research Conclusion (10%) – Briefly summarize your paper – Be convincing about why your proposed program of research is worthy of time and resources (why does this question matter?) – What are the implications of this work? (How can people use the findings? Do the findings extend theory? How might they be applied to clinical work or policy?) Spelling, Grammar & Writing Style (10%) – You need to write clearly and concisely (can the reader follow your ideas?) – Ensure that your paper is free of spelling and grammatical errors (., carefully proofread and have others proofread your paper as well) APA Style (5%) – Your paper should be free from APA style errors (including title page, formatting, headings etc). – You should closely adhere to APA referencing format in text and in the reference list
Hide
