Introduction
1. Participants
a. How many people participated?
b. Who were they?
c. Why did they participate? (i.e., how did you recruit them, and how were they compensated?)
d. Describe relevant demographic info
i. Common standard is mean age and number of males/females
ii. If other info is relevant to your study, report it here (if not, leave it out)
► Big Picture: What kind of sample would a researcher need to replicate your study?
2. Design
a. What did you manipulate (i.e. what was the independent variable)?
i. Give the IV a brief name that you can use throughout the paper to refer to it, and then
describe how it was operationally defined in this study
ii. How did you manipulate it (between or within subjects)?
iii. How many levels were there? How were those levels defined?
b. Repeat section A for all independent variables in your design
c. What did you measure (i.e. what was the dependent variable)?
i. Give the DV a brief name that you can use throughout the paper to refer to it, and then
describe how it was operationally defined in this study
d. Were there any other variables that you measured (either to include as statistical controls or as
possible mediators or moderators)?
i. If so, name them and indicate how they were operationally defined
► Big Picture: What variables would a researcher need to manipulate and/or measure to replicate your study?
3. Materials
a. Indicate what participants interacted with during the study
i. Did they read/look/hear something? Did they interact with a person or an object?
b. Answer all of these questions that you can (that are relevant to the study)
i. How many of them were there?
ii. How did you choose/create them?
iii. What features did you control, and how?
iv. How did the participant interact with them? Be specific!
v. Were things presented one at a time or all at once?
vi. Was there a time limit?
vii. Did the participant choose any part of what they were doing or what they interacted with?
viii.Was there a test? If so, how did participants give their answers? How were answers scored?
c. If there were multiple phases to the study (e.g. a study and a test period, or an interaction and then a
survey, different sections of a survey, etc.), describe the materials for each in separate paragraphs
► Big Picture: What specific things would a researcher need to have if they wanted to replicate your study?
Which features of those things are critical?
4. Procedure
a. How did participants complete the study?
i. Imagine you are a participant in the study, and describe your experience from beginning to
end (don’t skip anything), and THEN edit for clarity, conciseness, and relevance
ii. When and where did they complete the study?
1. Was it in a lab? Online? In class? In a public place?
2. Were they alone or with other participants?
3. Did you control what time of day/week/month/year they participated? If so, why?
(Justify your choice)
iii. What exactly did they do, and in what order did they do it?
iv. What specific instructions were they given? (What did they think they were supposed to be doing?)
b. The toughest part of this section is deciding which details are relevant and which are not (better
to err on the side of too much detail than too little, but try not to go overboard)
► Big Picture: What would a researcher need to do (and in what order) during the study to replicate your study?
Methods