Adult Development
PSY402
Assignment
Instruction Sheet
Objective:
Your objective is to describe an issue/event/research question in adult development and
to present two empirical papers on this topic.
Choose a topic of interest to you. Try to avoid broad topics. Instead, pick something
more specific. For example, you might be interested in widowhood, but that would be too broad.
Instead, you would need to focus in on a specific aspect of widowhood. For example, you might
choose to examine the risk of developing depression in widows compared to widowers, or the
risk of developing depression in young widows compared to older widows. Likewise, you could
examine similar questions regarding dating habits in widowhood, resilience of
widows/widowers, etc. The papers you choose should both be about the more specific topic you
have chosen.
As discussed in class, there are three ways in research to measure developmental change:
1) longitudinal study, 2) cross sectional study, 3) sequential study. The empirical papers you
choose need to demonstrate 2 of these options. For example, if your first paper describes a
longitudinal study, your second paper should describe either a cross sectional study or a
sequential study.
Helpful Notes:
1) Your topic needs to focus on adult development (no children or adolescent participants,
Adults only).
2) An empirical paper is one in which the authors describe a study that they conducted. A
review paper is NOT an empirical paper. Articles in magazines, such as Readers Digest
or Psychology Today, are NOT empirical papers.
3) Not all papers fit into longitudinal, cross sectional, sequential, because not all papers use
a developmental design. Do not make the mistake of assuming if it is not longitudinal it
must be cross sectional. That is not necessarily true. Additionally, be aware that other
fields use the word cross sectional differently. If a study is described as cross sectional,
make sure they are using the term in a developmental way (i.e. a cross section of ages is
being tested).
4) Be mindful that this is a psychology assignment. Do not go to medical. You need to be
addressing a topic from a psychological perspective.
Evaluation:
The assignment is worth 25% of your final grade. You will be evaluated on 6 criteria, each of
which will be scored out of 5. The criteria do not equally contribute to your grade. Some are
weighted higher than others. Here is a breakdown of how your paper will be graded.
1) Description of the topic – 15%. I am looking for a description of the topic, definitions
of the key terms, and a description of the link to the research (i.e. an explanation of why
people wanted to research this topic). This description should be approximately 1-page
long. You will lose points if you are missing information or if you do not provide proper
and adequate description.
2) Description of empirical paper 1 – 20%. There are three main aspects of the empirical
paper that I want you to describe in your paper: 1) a short description of what the
author(s) wanted to study (i.e. what the research question was); 2) a short description of
how they tested it, who were the participants, what type of study was it (longitudinal,
cross sectional, or sequential) and a brief description of the procedure; 3) a short
description of the main findings. You do NOT need to include the statistics. You just
need to relay the main findings. For example, “The authors found that a greater
percentage of widows develop depression compared to widowers.” The description of
your first empirical paper should be about 1 to 1.5 pages long. Your ability to summarize
(i.e. pull out the key information) is vital to this section.
3) Description of empirical paper 2 – 20%. The same criteria and guidelines for empirical
paper 1 will be applied to empirical paper 2.
4) Comparison of the empirical papers and conclusion – 20%. I am looking for you to
answer the question “Are the findings of the two papers similar, or are they conflicting?”
For example, if both papers indicate that widows are more likely to develop depression
than widowers that means the findings are similar. If that is the case, explain how the
findings complement each other. For example, you could write that the first group of
researchers found X. Then you can write that the second group of researchers also found
support for X, and added additional information Y. If the findings are conflicting, such
as one paper found that widows are more likely to develop depression than widowers,
whereas the second paper found that widowers are more likely than widows, you should
explain why you think they found difference. Perhaps you think one of the studies is a
better study (e.g. used a better type of study, had a better procedure, used more
participants, etc). Perhaps one study tested Canadians and the other tested Italians, and
then you could make the conclusion that the evidence would suggest there are cultural
differences. This section should be 1 to 1.5 pages long. Your marks will be earned by
displaying critical thinking and the quality of your comparisons
5) Writing style – 15%. I will evaluate your grammar, spelling, clarity, logical flow, and
so on. You should take the time to proofread your paper. You could get a friend (who is
good with grammar, spelling, etc) to help proofread it too. If there are spelling/grammar
errors, if it is difficult to read, and so on, I will deduct points.
6) APA/Formatting – 10%. You need to follow all APA guidelines for title pages, for
formatting (e.g. font size, margin size), for referencing (both in-text and reference lists).
Please take the time to look up the APA guidelines. I will provide a link on the course
webpage.
Other important information:
-The structure of your paper should be
1) Description of the topic,
2) Description of empirical paper 1,
3) Description of empirical paper 2,
4) Comparison of the papers & Discussion.
Do not get creative with the structure of your paper. Follow the structure as I laid it out.
-The page limit is 4 to 6 pages (and I have given you guidelines on how long each section should
be). If your paper is too short or too long, you will be penalized.
-A title page and a reference list are required (and must comply with APA guidelines. You will
be penalized if they are missing. The title page and reference list do NOT count towards your
page limit.
-With your two empirical papers, you should have enough sources for your paper. However, you
are allowed to bring in additional sources if you want. Remember to consider the quality of the
source (e.g. avoid random websites).
-Do not use direct quotes, paraphrasing is always preferred.
-All sources must be properly cited within text and in the reference list. Failure to do so is
a form of plagiarism and will be reported to the Academic Integrity Office.
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