Assignment2-2005.docx

Assignment 2: Toy Evaluation

In this assignment, you will be putting your psychology knowledge to use in an applied practical way.

You are a developmental psychologist and you have just been hired as a consultant to a major toy testing council.  The holidays are coming and the council wants to advise parents of the best toys to buy this season.  For your first work task, which you will have to do well in order to keep the job, you have been assigned the task of developing a best buy list. 

Your job is to provide a written evaluation of a popular children’s toy. 

The first step is to select a children’s toy to evaluate.  Most board games and name brand toys, including dolls, will be suitable.  Small non-descript stuffed toys, single books, or “dollar store” toys are generally unsuitable.  You do  not have to purchase the toy.  Toys which you or friends already own are quite acceptable.  It is also acceptable to gently examine toys which are for sale; however, do not abuse any toys which you may look at in stores.

Your written report must include the name of the toy, the name of the manufacturer, the suggested age range, the price, and any other relevant information.  Then, describe the toy in detail while including any accompanying instructions.  The bulk of your report should be an evaluation of the toy including its overall design, the clarity of instructions, the durability, the cost, and its appropriateness for children of the suggested age range (for example, the safety, the interest value, the colours, the sex-role stereotyping, and the selection of materials). Be sure to relate your evaluation to the text material, and don’t be afraid to read ahead to relevant sections of the text.  The evaluation you provide must be supported by research.  Answers based solely on your opinions are not acceptable.

Two to three references in addition to your textbook are required to support your evaluation; it is best if they come from professional journals.  If you use internet sources, remember that websites are only as good as the authors.  Be cautious about accepting research results as fact if they have not been subjected to a process of peer review (which happens for articles published in scientific journals, many of which may be found online). You may of course cite information available in your text but must include outside sources as well.

Your written evaluation should be 4-5 pages (maximum), typed and double-spaced. Use standard font size and margins. Use APA style to provide references. There is no official format you must use to prepare your report, but you must use complete sentences. You will be evaluated on the selection and the evaluation of the toy, as well as the quality of your written report.   

References

You must provide complete references for the articles you reviewed in a section headed ‘References’ at the end of the assignment.  This is similar to the References section found at the ends of the articles you read.

Full references should be given in this section for all sources referred to in the body of the report.  In the report, when references are cited, always refer to them by the author and the year of publication only.

Example:

Smith (2017) has maintained that psychology is an attempt to understand the behaviour of man

or

Psychology  has been defined as a study of the behaviour of man (Smith, 2017). 

Then, in the reference section, cite the references in full.  References should be arranged in alphabetical order according to the author name and should  not be numbered or grouped. They are grouped this way below only to show you examples of the styles.  When several publications of the same author are cited, they should be arranged in chronological order according to the year of publication.  The style for books and journals is different.

You may also wish to visit the following website for more information about APA formatting:

APA Formatting and Style Guide

Examples

Books 

Smith, E.R. (2017).   Introduction to psychology.  New York: Brace and World.

Chapters from Books

Jones, C. (2016).  Grades and success.  In S.S. Stevens (Ed.),  Handbook of experimental psychology (pp. 239-252).  New York: Wiley.

Articles from Journals

Brown, A. (2016).  Anxiety reduction.   Journal of Child Behaviour,  89 (1), 363-364.

Website

Aimons, D. (2017, January 7). Retrieved from http://www.exampleofawebsite.com