Lab 1: Course Intro
Labs can be worked on either solo or (optionally) with a partner of your choosing. If working with a
partner, please sign up for a Lab 1 group on Canvas together with your partner and submit one
assignment as that group.
This first lab is largely reflective, and to engage you with the course materials. Therefore, it is primarily
graded on effort and completeness. Since we are just starting out, I don’t expect you to deeply
understand research methods yet!
Note: Make sure to start Part 2 early. It is not difficult, but it does take a bit of time and planning to
work on the Island.
Part 1: Your Perspective Story (3pt)
Based on my upbringing in a collectivist neighborhood, as part of a nuclear and traditional
family, I have always appreciated the importance of sharing and caring.
So far in my education, I have pursued research and projects in arts and humanities, where I
learned how to express my ideas, develop meaningful connections with people and solve societal
issues.
I have both faced stigmatization towards mental issues and joined a mentally aware community
such as Fulbright. To overcome external and internalized judgments, I have learned and practiced
mindfulness which brings me consciousness and calmness in everything I do.
All this experience has led me to enrich my knowledge and skills in Psychology in order to
improve mental health in Vietnam and raise awareness towards mental health problems. To
support my mission, I would like to do research related to mental health status quo in Vietnam
and solutions to tackle these issues.
Part 2: Exploring the Islands (7pt)
This activity takes place within the Islands, which you were given access to on the first day of class. There
is an “Academy” on the top island containing prior studies of the Islanders. Go to the Academy and find
the study “A mixed method study on the effect of early childhood napping on cognitive function and
parental perception”. Focus on the quantitative study, since that is what was actually performed on
Islanders.
1. Briefly summarize the purpose of the study and how the authors collected data to address their
research questions. (1pt)
2. If study had been conducted on real kids, what ethical concerns would the researchers (and any
IRB approving the study) need to address? Explain based on the class readings. (1pt)
3. Go to a school on any of the towns on any Island and recruit two 5-year-olds (by obtaining
consent from their guardians). Paste the screenshot of the “Tasks” page for your two 5-year-olds
once they have consented to your study. I should be able to see the top navigation bar (which
shows which Island the participant is from), as well as their name, picture, and the time (in
Island time) when the participant consented to be in the study. Call one of the participants
“Participant 1” and call the other one “Participant 2”. (0.5pt)
4. Explore the tasks available. What are the possible task(s) in that the authors could have used for
the “nap-prompted group”? What are the possible task(s) they could have used for the “wake-
prompted group”? Explain. (1pt)
5. What are the possible task(s) the authors could have used for the “timed memory game”?
Explain. (1pt)
6. Actually perform the experiment on just these two participants. That is, give Participant 1 a
treatment corresponding to the nap-prompted group, and give participants 2 a treatment
corresponding to the wake-prompted group, then give both participants a timed memory game.
Describe which specific tasks you used in the Islands. (1pt)
7. Paste screenshots of each participant’s memory game result. (0.5pt)
8. Which participant performed better on the memory game? How did your result for 2
participants compare to the original article? Explain. (1pt)