Aims of the Final Year Project Module 7,000 words (excluding references, tables and appendices) developed general skills depending on the nature of the project. These will include the extensive and independent researching of library material (possibly by interrogating resources such as Web of Science and the World Wide Web), data gathering and analysis, the use of computer applications packages (e.g. SPSS, Word) and time-management skills; All projects must be typed/word processed, double spaced, on A4 paper and bound, either with a soft binding or a spiral binding. All pages of the project should be numbered. The fourth page-The ‘Table of Contents’ should be on page four (or page three in the absence of an ‘acknowledgements’ section). This should list the sections of your project, with page numbers. Following these first three (or four) pages, the layout and presentation of your project should follow the format of journal articles. project should be structured in the following way: • Abstract Approximately 250 words, summarising the hypotheses, the methodology, the participants, results, findings and implications of your study • Introduction A review of the literature that is directly relevant to your research question(s). You need to demonstrate a clear, critical awareness and understanding of the area in which you have carried out your project. Material presented in the introduction provides the background to explain why you have undertaken your study; the aims/hypotheses of your study should be explicitly stated at the end of this section. • Method A clear description of your research. This should include: • the research design; • a description of any participants involved in the study (e.g. how many, what sex, whether they are right or left handed, how old, how they were recruited, as appropriate); • a description of any tests/materials/equipment that you used. If you used standard measures, then it is sufficient to include a brief summary in your methods section and include a copy of the measure in the appendix. If, however, you developed your own test, then a complete description of the development of the test, the piloting procedure, and the reliability and validity of the test, should be given, as well as a copy of the test itself in the appendix; • the procedure that you employed, this must be detailed enough to enable someone else to replicate your study; • a statement to the effect that ethical approval was granted for your project by the Middlesex University Psychology Ethics Panel. • Results What you found: • If your study is quantitative, your results section should include descriptive and inferential statistics that answer your research questions stated in the introduction. It is helpful to the reader if you start off by describing and summarising your data before you wade into the results of your statistical analysis. This section should be a combination of data tables, graphical representations of your data and textual descriptions of what you found. Pages of computer printout should not be included here – if they are relevant at all, then they should be in the appendix. • If your study is qualitative, your results section should include details of your coding procedures, inter-rater reliability (if appropriate), and selected extracts from interviews to illustrate your findings. The bulk of your interview transcripts do not belong here – they should be in the appendix. • Discussion A brief summary of your findings (were your aims/hypotheses supported?), followed by a detailed discussion of the implications of your results, tying them in with the studies that you discussed in the introduction (e.g. in what way does your study support previous findings? In what way are your results different from previous results? Why might this be? What are the broader implications of your findings?) You should include a discussion of any problems that you encountered in running your study that may explain your results, any limitations of your particular research design and thoughts on how this work could be developed in the future. • References All research articles that are cited in your project must be included in your reference section (these should be listed in alphabetical order). Do not include any references in this section that have not been cited in the body of your project. These should include copies of test materials, raw data, computer printouts, and interview transcripts (where appropriate).