Social Media’s Effect on Mental Health
For this week’s Writing Assignment 2, you will be writing a methods section for your research proposal. I have provided a sample APA style methods section for you to closely follow and use as a guideline.
Remember, your methods section should be written in future tense, meaning you will use words or phrases like: “will use,” “will be,” “will,” etc. You will use future tense because you are going to conduct a larger future study and have not completed it yet. The data you will analyze in the upcoming weeks will be a small pilot study to be an argument for a larger study.
I have included some information about your research proposal. Use the information below to write your methods section.
A. Participants:
100 women aged 18-24
Collect data from the following ethnic groups: Latino/Hispanic, Black/African American, Asian, and Caucasian. There will be an even breakdown of sample size across ethnic groups.
Participants needed per group for 80% power, one-way ANOVA, large effect size = 18. Total necessary/minimum for the study will be 72.
Participants were recruited through university flier postings, sorority announcements, and club/organization announcements.
Approval was granted by the University’s Institutional Review Board.
B. Materials: Participants were asked to complete the Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory. Both are found in the Module.
You need to state the reliability of each test (as indicated in the sample methods section) and any other necessary information.
You need to describe each measure and state what it is used for.
C. Procedure:
University students are invited to participate in the study.
Demographic information will also be collected.
Beck Depression Inventory will be given.
Beck Anxiety Inventory will be given.
D. State your formal hypothesis.
Hypotheses: Choose one of the following for your proposal ONLY:
1. The effect of ethnicity on depression in those using Facebook.
2. The effect of ethnicity on depression in those using TikTok.
3. The effect of ethnicity on depression in those using Reddit.
4. The effect of ethnicity on depression in those using SnapChat.
5. The effect of ethnicity on anxiety in those using Facebook.
6. The effect of ethnicity on anxiety in those using TikTok.
7. The effect of ethnicity on anxiety in those using Reddit.
8. The effect of ethnicity on anxiety in those using SnapChat.
State the statistical procedure.