By now, you should have your data to compute the correlation between your stressor (whatever your group chose to record) and your overall stress levels. The objective of this part of the assignment is to communicate what you did, what you found, and what your results may mean, in the form of a paper. The paper is due AT THE BEGINNING of discussion section during the 4th week of the term (Oct 21-22). Late papers will be marked down by 5 points a day (out of a total of 40).

Please read this assignment carefully, paying special attention to what you should include in your paper. Although the assignment requires you to answer several questions, the final product to be written in the form of a paper (i.e., sequential paragraphs). Thus, rather than simply listing answers to the questions, you should integrate them in your report. Assume that the person reading your paper doesn't know what the assignment was or what questions you were told to answer. Strive for coherence, clarity, and elegance in your writing. Also, as for all papers, you should use complete sentences and correct grammar and spelling. Poor writing quality will bring down your grade. This paper must be typed and double-spaced.

- What relationship were you examining? Describe your stressor. Why did you think it would affect your stress level? Did you expect a positive or negative correlation between your stressor and stress, and why? If you were writing a journal article about your investigation of stress, the answers to these questions would correspond roughly to the introduction to the article.

- How many people participated in your investigation? How many days did each of them collect data? How many pairs of data points (i.e., pairs of ratings for stress and your stressor) do you have in total? If you were writing a journal article, the answers to these questions would correspond roughly to the section describing the research participants.

- What was your operational definition of both variables? (Note that the operational definition of stress will be roughly the same for the entire class, but you should include it anyway.) How did you make your ratings? For example, did you have a particular time of day that you made your ratings? Did you make recordings for eight days straight, or did you record some days and not others? Did everyone in your group make the ratings the same way? Include any details that are specific to your investigation. If you were writing a journal article, the answers to these questions would correspond roughly to the procedure section.

- What was the numerical value of your correlation? Was it in the direction you predicted? Using the guidelines that follow, report how big your correlation was. If you were writing a journal article, the answers to these questions would correspond roughly to the results section.

Important note: No part of your grade on this paper will be determined by how big or small your correlation is. Remember, the goal of science is to find the true answers to our questions, even if those answers are not what we expected. Do not be tempted UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES to fabricate (make up) data. You may be surprised to find that the stressor you picked has no correlation with your stress level or that it has a much higher correlation with your stress level than you expected. Some of science's most important findings were surprises. Report what you found, not what you expected to find.

Remember: The size of a correlation depends on its distance from zero, either in a positive or negative direction.

-.09 to .09 (includes 0) --> no correlation

-.10 to -.34 OR .10 to .34 --> small correlation

-.35 to -.60 OR .35 to .60 --> moderate correlation

less than -.60 OR more than .60 --> high correlation

[Please note these guidelines are somewhat arbitrary. Under some circumstances, even a very small correlation is meaningful. A very small correlation means that a variable doesn't predict much of the variance in another variable, but in some cases, even a tiny bit of predictive power is worth a lot. For example, if you knew that there was a .10 (small correlation) between driving a station wagon and being an ax murderer, how would you feel if your new neighbor drove a station wagon?]

- What can you conclude from your results? Do you think there could be a causal relationship between your two variables, and if so, in what direction? Could there be another causal relationship? Which one seems most plausible? Can you infer causality from your data? Do you believe in the correlation you found? If not, why not? Are there limitations to using self-report as your method of data collection? What biases might be present in your data? What could be done to improve your investigation of factors causing stress? What other things should you consider in future investigations? If you were writing a journal article, the answers to these questions would correspond roughly to the discussion section.

YOU MUST TURN IN THE "RAW DATA" (numbers you used in your calculation), along with your paper.

Your paper should be no longer than five pages. There is no lower page limit for this paper, although it is estimated that it will take about three pages to cover the material. Your paper is the right length when you have answered all the questions above. Do not include irrelevant, meaningless, or meandering information.

You have one week to write your paper. Take advantage of this time and consult your GTF is you have questions. PROOFREAD your paper before turning it in. Have someone (a classmate, a friend, someone at Academic Learning Services) read a first draft and give you editing suggestions for the final version. (Academic Learning Services is in the lower level of PLC, and can be reached at 346-3226.) Use the attached form to certify that someone else read over your paper. Turn this form in with your paper.

Name of Proofreader:

read this paper on (date):

S/he made the following suggestions, which I have either incorporated, or decided not to incorporate for reasons I describe below:

I affirm that a proof reader read this paper and provided comments, and that I considered those comments carefully and utilized those that I thought would improve the paper. Despite the fact that a proof-reader provided suggestions, I affirm that this paper is my own work.

Signature of paper writer and date: