Academic Writing

Research Report Introduction (800) words Research Question Does SVO (as measured by the TDM) allow us to predict people’s decisions in situations where their decisions could affect a large number of unknown persons (e.g., environmental, political, social issues affecting communities)? Hypotheses and Variables Independent Variable The independent variable is the participant’s social value orientation as measured by the Triple Dominance Measure (see Van Lange et al., 1997 in the starting references below).   Dependent Variables The dependent variables are participants’ self‐report opinions and perceptions about the construction of a toll road and a train line. You can read about these in the survey information on Blackboard entitled “PSY10004 Survey Handout 2015”.   Hypotheses Hypotheses are generally specific and directional predictions about the pattern of independent and dependent variables. In this report we are hypothesising that some group with social value orientation X (the IV) will have the most/least favourable attitude (the DV) towards a proposal. Because the attitude is measured in terms of an approval rating, the hypotheses will take the form: “Those with social value orientation X are predicted to give higher mean support ratings for the toll road proposal than those with orientation Y and Z.” You may also predict that no differences will be found, or that two groups will give similar ratings.