PSY 216 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric 

Overview 

Personality psychology is an important course for all students because it provides insight into everyday behavior. Students are able to see themselves, their families, and their friends in the concepts covered in personality psychology, and are able to adjust their behavior and attitudes based on what they have learned. Although personality psychology is a research field, social psychologists are often interested in understanding current social problems, and their work is often applied to improve individual-, community-, and societal-level relationships. 

The final project is meant for you to propose a hypothetical study. You are not and should not be conducting human subjects research for this project. It is not necessary for the purposes of this assignment. All human subjects research requires written approval from the SNHU COCE Institutional Review Board in order to protect the welfare and ensure ethical treatment of the subjects. 

For the first final project in this course, you will examine research presented in the course for how personality psychology has changed, and investigate a potential gap in the research that has not been addressed. This assessment will allow you to foster and improve your skills at reading, interpreting, and writing psychological works. It will also help you to learn your place within the field, and how to combine both your personal perspective and opinions with established, empirical research to make original claims. 

Final Project I is supported by two milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will take place in Modules Three and Five. The final research investigation is due in Module Seven. 

This assessment addresses the following course outcomes: 

• ●  Describe foundational research regarding personality by examining the historical evolution of the field of personality psychology
   
• ●  Determine appropriate research designs used in personality psychology for application in the study of aspects of personality
   
• ●  Examine issues of ethics in foundational research in personality psychology for informing appropriate conclusions
   
• ●  Interpret claims made by foundational research in personality psychology for conveying appropriate conclusions that are supported by peer-reviewed
  evidence
   
• ●  Develop basic research questions supported by peer-reviewed evidence by identifying gaps in the research of personality psychology
  Prompt
  For your summative assessment, you will conduct an investigation of the foundational research in personality psychology. You will need to conduct a literature review of the research presented in the course. This research will include both classic and current foundational research from the field. You will analyze the research presented in the course to determine how what we know about personality has changed over time as well as how researchers have approached the study of personality. You will also consider the issues of ethics that are or are not addressed in the research. Following your review of the research, you will
   

  

identify a gap (or unexplored topic within the research) and develop a research question designed to further explore your gap. This will include how the research supports your research question and how you would approach addressing your research question. Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed: 

1. Literature Review: In this part of the assessment, you will analyze foundational research presented in the course for how the field of personality psychology has changed over time, how researchers have designed research to study personality, and how issues of ethics have been addressed historically in the field.
    
   1. Summarize the claims made by the authors of the foundational research presented in the course regarding how personality develops. In other words, what claims are made by the research about how human personality develops?
       
   2. Summarize the claims made by the authors of the foundational research presented in the course regarding how personality is assessed. In other words, what claims are made by the research about how personality has been determined by assessments?
       
   3. Explain how the view of personality has evolved over the history of personality psychology. Be sure to support with examples from research to support your claim.
       
   4. Explain the conclusions you can reach about research in personality psychology. In other words, explain what we know about personality, based on your review of the research presented in the course. Be sure to support your analysis with examples from research to support your claim.
       
   5. Describe the specific research designs used in the foundational research presented in the course used to address research questions. For example, what were the specific methods used to address their research question? What type of research design was used?
       
   6. Explain how research designs were used by authors to conduct research in personality psychology. In other words, how did the research designs used by researchers help in conducting research regarding personality psychology?
       
   7. Discuss how issues of ethics have been addressed in the foundational research presented in the course. For example, how did the authors inform the participants of what the experiment would entail? How did the authors account for any potential risks to participants associated with the study?
       
   8. Discuss how issues of ethics in personality psychology have been viewed historically. In other words, how have issues of ethics in the field been viewed over time? Has this view changed as the field has progressed? Be sure to support your response with examples from research to support your claims.
       
2. Research Design: In this part of the assessment, use your previous analysis of the research presented in the course to develop your research design. You will identify a gap in the research you have reviewed, explain how the research supports further exploration of that aspect of personality psychology, and develop a research question addressing the gap. You will then determine an appropriate research design and explain how it could be implemented and how you will account for issues of ethics in your proposed research question.
    
   1. Identify a gap in personality psychology research presented in the course that is unexplored or underdeveloped. For example, is there an unexplored aspect of personality psychology you believe could be further explored?
       
   2. Develop a basic research question addressing the identified gap. In other words, create a question that you could answer in potential research to further investigate your identified gap. Be sure to support your developed research question with examples from research to support your claims.
       
   3. Determine an appropriate research design that addresses your research question regarding personality psychology and explain why it was chosen. Be sure to support your response with examples from your analysis and the research presented in the course that supports the determined research design.
       

  

1. Explain how you will account for issues of ethics associated with your proposed research. In other words, how will you ensure that issues of ethics associated with your proposed research have been managed appropriately? Be sure to support your analysis with examples from research to support your claims.
    
2. Explain how your approach to accounting for issues of ethics was informed by your review of the research presented in the course. In other words, what did you learn from the research presented in the course in terms of how to address issues of ethics that you were able to incorporate in your own design?
   Milestones
    

Final Project, Milestone One: Literature Review Draft
In Module Three, you will prepare a draft of the literature review due as part of your final research investigation using the three articles for your track that you selected in Module One. Use the Literature Review Template to complete this task. Refer to the Literature Review Example to assist you. This milestone is graded with the Final Project Milestone One Rubric. 

Final Project, Milestone Two: Designing a Research Study
In Module Five, you will participate in a discussion in which you present the research design you will be using in your final research investigation. You will also assist your classmates in refining their own research designs. This milestone is graded with the Final Project Milestone Two Rubric. 

Final Project Submission: Research Investigation
In Module Seven, you will submit a document containing a polished literature review and research design. The full adapted literature review will include a review of five articles. Combined with the research design, the final document should be 6-8 pages in length. Both the literature review component and the research design component should incorporate the feedback received in the milestones and should reflect all the critical elements in the Final Project Rubric below. Use the Final Project Paper Template as a guide when writing your final research investigation. This document should be formatted in APA style. Refer to the SNHU Online Writing Center for guidance on how to properly format sources in APA style. Consult Chapters 4, 5, and 6 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association for guidelines for writing in APA style, including punctuation and spelling rules. Also, consult the tutorials at the Smarthinking Online Tutoring Service to assist you in your writing. This final submission will be graded using the Final Project Rubric (below). 

  

Final Project Rubric
Guidelines for Submission: Your research investigation should be 6-8 pages in length, using 12-point Times New Roman font, double spacing, one-inch margins, 

and APA formatting. 

Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (85%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value 

    

Literature Review: Personality Develops 

  

Meets “Proficient” criteria and analysis demonstrates an astute ability to interpret claims made in psychological research 

  

Summarizes the evidence in the foundational research presented in the course regarding how personality develops 

  

Summarizes the evidence in the foundational research presented in the course regarding how personality develops, but summary is cursory or contains inaccuracies 

  

Does not summarize the evidence in the foundational research presented in the course regarding how personality develops 

  

6.33 

   

Literature Review: Personality Assessed 

  

Meets “Proficient” criteria and analysis demonstrates an astute ability to interpret claims made in psychological research 

  

Summarizes the evidence in the foundational research presented in the course regarding how personality is assessed 

  

Summarizes the evidence in the foundational research presented in the course regarding how personality is assessed, but summary is cursory or contains inaccuracies 

  

Does not summarize the evidence in the foundational research presented in the course regarding how personality is assessed 

  

6.33 

   

Literature Review: History 

  

Meets “Proficient” criteria and explanation demonstrates keen insight into how the view of personality has evolved over the history of the field 

  

Explains how the view of personality has evolved over the history of the field using examples from the research 

  

Explains how the view of personality has evolved over the history of the field, but explanation is cursory or lacks examples from research 

  

Does not explain how the view of personality has evolved over the history of the field 

  

6.33 

   

Literature Review: Personality Psychology 

  

Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates an astute ability to interpret claims made in psychological research 

  

Explains the conclusions that can be reached about personality psychology, based on analysis of the research presented in the course using examples from the research 

  

Explains the conclusions that can be drawn about personality psychology presented in the course, but explanation is cursory, contains inaccuracies, or lacks examples from research 

  

Does not explain the conclusions that can be drawn about personality psychology 

  

19 

   

Literature Review: Research Designs 

  

Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates an astute ability to interpret psychological research 

  

Describes the specific research designs used in the foundational research presented in the course to address research questions 

  

Describes the research designs used in the foundational research presented in the course to address research questions, but description is cursory, contains inaccuracies, or response does not reference specific research designs from the research 

  

Does not describe the research designs used in the foundational research presented in the course to address research questions 

  

6.33 

     

Literature Review: Conduct Research 

  

Meets “Proficient” criteria and explanation demonstrates keen insight into how researchers use research designs to better conduct research 

  

Explains how research designs were used by authors in the research presented in the course to conduct research 

  

Explains how research designs were used by authors in the research presented in the course to conduct research, but explanation is cursory or contains inaccuracies 

  

Does not explain how research designs were used by authors in the research presented in the course to conduct research 

  

6.33 

   

Literature Review: Issues of Ethics 

  

Meets “Proficient” criteria and discussion demonstrates keen insight into how the authors of the research presented in the course addressed issues of ethics 

  

Discusses how issues of ethics have been addressed in the foundational research presented in the course using examples from the research 

  

Discusses how issues of ethics have been addressed in the foundational research presented in the course but discussion is cursory, contains inaccuracies, or lacks examples from research 

  

Does not discuss how issues of ethics have been addressed in the foundational research presented in the course 

  

4.75 

   

Literature Review: Viewed 

  

Meets “Proficient” criteria and discussion demonstrates a nuanced understanding of how the views and approaches to ethical issues in the field have changed over time 

  

Discusses how issues of ethics in personality psychology have been viewed historically using examples from the research 

  

Discusses how issues of ethics in personality psychology have been viewed historically, but discussion is cursory, contains inaccuracies, or lacks examples from research 

  

Does not discuss how issues of ethics in personality psychology have been viewed historically 

  

4.75 

   

Research Design: Gap 

  

Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates keen insight into an unexplored or underdeveloped area of personality psychology based on the research presented in the course 

  

Identifies a gap in the personality psychology research presented in the course that is unexplored or underdeveloped 

  

Identifies a gap in the personality psychology research presented in the course that is unexplored or underdeveloped, but identification contains inaccuracies 

  

Does not identify a gap in the personality psychology research presented in the course that is unexplored or underdeveloped 

  

9.5 

   

Research Design: Research Question 

  

Meets “Proficient” criteria and research question demonstrates a keen insight into how to develop research questions that address the identified gap 

  

Develops a basic research question addressing the identified gap that is supported by examples from the research 

  

Develops a basic research question addressing the identified gap, but developed research question is cursory, contains inaccuracies, or lacks examples from the research 

  

Does not develop a basic research question addressing the identified gap 

  

9.5 

   

Research Design: Research Design 

  

Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates a sophisticated awareness of the research design that would be most appropriate in addressing the research question 

  

Determines an appropriate research design that addresses the research question and explains why it was chosen, using examples from the analysis and the research 

  

Determines a research design that addresses the research question and explains why it was chosen, but determination contains inaccuracies or explanation is cursory or lacks examples from previous analysis or research 

  

Does not determine a research design that addresses the research question or explain why it was chosen 

  

6.33 

     

Research Design: Issues of Ethics 

  

Meets “Proficient” criteria and explanation demonstrates an astute ability to interpret psychological research 

  

Explains how issues of ethics would be accounted for with the proposed research, using examples from the research 

  

Explains how issues of ethics would be accounted for with the proposed research, but explanation is cursory, contains inaccuracies, or lacks examples from the research 

  

Does not explain how issues of ethics would be accounted for with the proposed research 

  

4.75 

   

Research Design: Informed 

  

Meets “Proficient” criteria and explanation demonstrates keen insight into how the personal approach to accounting for issues of ethics was influenced by the research presented in the course 

  

Explains how your approach to accounting for issues of ethics was informed by your review of the research presented in the course using personal thoughts and examples from the research 

  

Explains how your approach to accounting for issues of ethics was informed by your review of the research presented in the course, but explanation is cursory, contains inaccuracies, or response is not supported by personal thoughts and examples from research 

  

Does not explain how your approach to accounting for issues of ethics was informed by your review of the research presented in the course 

  

4.75 

   

Articulation of Response 

  

Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-to-read format 

  

Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization 

  

Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas 

  

Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas 

  

5.02 

 

Total 100%