COM265 Quantitative Research Methods

Semester 2, 2024-2025

Group Research Project

Deadline: 11:59 on Friday, May 30, 2025

Submission method: LMO

Submission format: Research poster and SPSS files

Weight: 50% of the final grade

Resit: S

Learning Outcomes:

B. Use appropriate quantitative research methods for data collection and analysis

D. Design and conduct quantitative research projects

Overview

The goal of this group project is to carry out a quantitative research study. In groups of 5-6, students must choose and implement a research proposal developed by one of the group members for assignment 1 (please do not wait for assignment 1 to be graded!). Based on the research proposal, students are then expected to create materials for their research project (such as a codebook, questionnaire, or experimental protocol), execute the project, collect and digitize empirical data, conduct a statistical analysis of the collected data, generate at least two data visualizations, and test a minimum of two hypotheses. Additionally, students need to summarize their projects, outcomes, and interpretations in a research poster.

Project Implementation Guidelines

1. Project Selection: You need to meet with your group members to choose one of their Research Proposals (Assignment 1). You can modify any elements of the selected research project to make it more feasible or to improve its scientific quality. Please do not wait for our feedback on the Research Proposal Assignment, as it will not arrive on time!

2. Development of Materials: Based on the chosen project, you are required to develop materials to measure the constructs outlined in the proposal. These materials include a questionnaire for a survey study, a codebook for a quantitative content analysis, and a detailed experimental protocol for an experiment. You may also combine different methods, but in that case, you must provide materials for each of these methods.

3. Implementation: After developing the materials for your study, you are required to apply them to a reasonably sized sample of respondents, documents, or experimental subjects. The minimum for a survey is 50 respondents; for content analysis, the minimum is 50 short documents (articles, social media posts, video clips) or 30 long documents (books, movies); and for an experiment, the minimum is 30 participants. In a content analysis, each document must be rated by at least two group members simultaneously. You should specify the population, and if possible, your sample should be representative of that population. Additionally, be prepared to volunteer as respondents or experimental subjects for your fellow students' projects!

4. Data Collection: The data collected from your project should be entered into an IBM SPSS Statistics file (.sav). All variables should be appropriately named and given the correct measurement level. Furthermore, value labels (if applicable) and missing values must be defined.

5. Data Analysis and Visualization: First, data from items of the same scale / parallel raters must be aggregated into index variables. To do this, their reliability must be ensured using the appropriate procedures. The resulting variables should be analysed using appropriate univariate statistics (central tendency and dispersion). At least two hypotheses must be tested using appropriate multivariate statistical procedures. At least two (and at most four) data visualizations must be created to depict either one or several variables. Please note that tables are not data visualizations!

6. Interpretation & Conclusions: You should interpret the results of the statistical procedures and data visualizations you applied. Specifically, you must answer the following questions: Can you reject your hypotheses? What do your results mean for the research question?

Research Poster Guidelines

Research Poster Structure: The research poster should be A1 format and contain a maximum of 900 words (excluding headlines and references). The research poster should be concise, informative, and visually appealing. It is expected to effectively communicate your research project and its results to an interested audience. The research poster should contain the following elements:

▪ Headline: The name of your project.

▪ Research Question and Hypotheses: Restate the original research question and hypotheses of the project. You do NOT have to give any explanation, justification of relevance, literature review, or discussion of the theoretical background!

▪ Description of Research Design: Give a short description of how the research project was conducted, including the chosen method, how the constructs were measured, population and sampling process.

▪ Outcomes: Report the outcomes of phase 5 of your project (see above), including data visualization(s) and their (short) description.

▪ Interpretation and conclusions: see project phase 6.

Format & Ethics

Writing Style.: The poster can be written in the form. of bullet points. Please avoid overly long and complex sentences, and try your best to include essential information only. Should you cite any literature, please use the latest APA citation style. Should you use AI tools to edit and polish your writings, as well as to generate visual elements, please cite such use in line with the latest APA standards.

Teamwork: All group members are required to contribute equally to the group project and collaborate on all the different parts of the project. If a group member does not contribute to the project at all or simply can’t be reached, please contact us as soon as possible. If this behavior. doesn’t change, non-contributing group members will receive 0 points as their group project mark.

Submission Guidelines

The research poster, project materials, and SPSS files have to be uploaded on Learning Mall Online NO LATER THAN on May 30, 23:59. Earlier submissions are welcome. The research poster and project materials should be uploaded in PDF file format. The SPSS files should be uploaded as .sav (dataset) and .spv (output). You should name the file as follows: COM265_Research Poster_Student IDs, where all group members’ student IDs must be stated. Only one member per group needs to submit the files on LMO.