Applied Research in Psychology
By successfully completing the Unit 9 assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:
- Competency 2: Describe scientific research methods presented in scholarly psychology literature.
- Competency 3: Apply research findings from scholarly literature to current issues in the field of psychology.
- Competency 4: Examine how human thoughts and behaviors can impact mental health and well-being.
- Competency 5: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with expectations for professionals in the field of psychology.
For this assignment, you will select an area in your major or other area of interest and explore how psychological research has had an impact in solving practical problems in that field.
Areas of applied research in psychology include:
- Business.
- Criminal justice.
- Education.
- Forensics.
- Health.
- Mental health treatment.
- Public safety.
- Sports.
- Technology.
You might like to search topics in the Journal of Applied Psychology, a scholarly journal in the Capella University Library. It is a good resource both to explore topics and to find articles for your selected topic. The American Psychological Association’s Research in Action Web site (link in Resources) is also a good resource to explore for topics and articles. Please note that if you use articles from this Web site, they are considered professional but not scholarly sources of information, because they are not peer-reviewed. You can use one of the articles from the site as one of your resources, but you will also need information from two scholarly articles.
Select one topic of interest. For example, you might be interested in one of the following topics:
- How supervisor training impacts development of future leaders in the workplace.
- How research on jury bias has been used to improve courtroom proceedings.
- How research in sports performance has been used to improve athlete performance.
- How research in product design is used to improve human performance.
- How research in product design is used to improve workplace safety.
- How research on the effectiveness of a violence prevention program can be applied in the workplace.
These are only a few examples, and you are not limited to these topics. If you have a topic in mind that you are unsure about, contact your instructor for topic feedback or approval.
Write a 4–5 page paper (not including title page and references page) that addresses a human factor problem to which a solution has been researched and applied. In your paper, make sure to complete the following:
- Present information from three sources of information (at least one professional, and at least two scholarly sources) on a topic in applied psychology.
- Summarize psychology research findings that have been applied to solve a specific problem or make a specific improvement.
- Describe the methods used in the research. This will include the topic and the research question from the article, the participants in the study, and how the research was conducted. (You can also refer back to Chapter 1 of the textbook for information on methods, and review the Designs and Methods in Psychology document in Unit 2 to reacquaint yourself with types of methods used in research.)
- Apply findings from research to solve practical human factor problems.
- Describe how the application benefits human health or well-being.
- Include a title page and references page (not part of the 4–5 pages of content).
Submission Requirements
- Written communication: It should be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
- APA formatting: References and citations are formatted according to APA (6th edition) style and formatting.
- Paper length: 4–5 typed, double-spaced pages, not including title page and references page.
- Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12-point.
- Turnitin: Submit your assignment, and review the results before submitting within this unit for grading.