In essence, the IB psychology Internal Assessment (IA) is a research proposal. You are NOT implementing any research in your psychology IA, just making a proposal for research. The teacher's presentation and the steps below allow you to complete the psychology IA task with ease. Remember to utilise the guide and the instructions in Kognity 6.1, too. 

Step 1: Choose a tentative topic for your research proposal. The topic for you IA must be within the field of psychology and related to similar published research. The research proposal can be either quantitative and/or qualitative. Both are equally acceptable. Topics covered in the class practicals must not be re-examined in the research proposal and neither the topics of your psychology EEs. After deciding the tentative topic, formulate the following parts for your investigation:

(1) What is the aim of your investigation? This should be as clear and focused as possible and connected with the real-life problem and the population of interest of your research proposal. The aim can be in a form of a research question.

(2) What is the real-life problem you want to investigate? Try to describe the problem as clearly as possible. Your IA should address a relevant problem. A real-life problem could for example self-esteem and social media and language acquisition and acculturation. 

(3) What is the population of interest of your investigation? Explain the population of interest as specifically and clearly as possible. Your IA should concern a real-world population. The population can be within school community, local community or national community. Examples of populations of interests include, but or not limited to the following:
- People who play a particular sport or engage in a lot of excercise
- Those who have been bullied in school or on social media 
- Students with a specific challenge to their learning (e.g., ADHD, dyslexia, or school anxiety)
- Single parents in the country where you are living
- Specific group of refugees or immigrants
- Third culture students in a specific place/country
- Children attending a kindergarten or playgroup in a specific place/country
Think of existing policies and/or practices related to your population of interest. This can give you further ideas for your research proposal.

Please note! The whole IA task should revolve around this question: WHY is this research proposal useful for the population of interest? All three elements mentioned above (aim, real-life problem and population of interest) should be tied together with the help of this question. 

The following topics must be avoided in the investigation:

- Any kind of abuse
- Self-harm, including suicide
- Pornography, rape or other sexual acts
- Serial killers or acts of torture
- Any research containing ingestion, although investigation into self-reporter dietary choices is permissible
- Any use of animals

As a rule of thumb, the research proposal should be conducted as if it must be passed by an ethics committee. 

The IBO's document below might help you to get started with your psychology IA.

Furthermore, Internal Assessment Examples can also be inspirational.

Step 2: Start to look for published research for your tentative topic. 

- Start with Google Scholar, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and JSTOR. Choose the "Articles" option with DOAJ.
- Continue your search with JYKDOK. JYKDOK is a user interface for all electronic and printed material of the Jyväskylä Universty Library. JYKDOK is part of nationwide Finna search service. Please, use Finna as well for academic searches.
- Physically go to the Jyväskylä University Library and ask the librarians for a permission to access the PsycNET database. This is the cornocupia of academic sources for anything related to psychology. The librarians will help you with any kind of academic sources and searches. They are the experts of academic information. 

You need TWO pieces of published research for your IA task. These pieces of published research need to be referenced in the investigation. The published research need to be explained and linked to the investigation. The published research you have chosen should justify the problem you have in your investigation.

Please note! If you have done your Extended Essay (EE) on psychology, you should choose a topic that is not related to your EE. Using the same published research for both EE and IA in psychology is strictly prohibited. 

Step 3: After finding appropriate published research to your tentative topic, read the sources and make adjustements to your topic, aim, real-life problem and population of interest. Use the Student IA Proposal Form to develop your ideas and show it to the teacher for commenting. Do not proceed before teacher has approved your ideas.

Step 4: Download the Psychology Internal Assessment APA Base Document from below and rename it. Start writing your research proposal to this very document. Do NOT use the online version of the word. Use the full desktop version. Do NOT change the settings of the Word-document. Use the styles to fully implement the APA style. The research proposal in IB Psychology should be written with APA style. Ask the teacher for help if you encounter any difficulties in APA referencing system.

Step 5: Write the Introduction of your research proposal. Introduction should include all the things in the previous steps:

(1) statement of the aim,

(2) explanation of the real-life problem the population of interest and

(3) the findings and key conclusions of the two pieces of research you have chosen for your research proposal.

Step 6: Write the Research methodology of your research proposal by choosing the appropriate research methodology for your investigation. You must choose the research methods from the following list:

- Experiment (true- or quasi-)
- Observation (naturalistic or controlled, overt or covert, participant or non-participant)
- Interview (structured, semi-structured or focus group)
- Survey/questionnaire

You should justify your choice and explain why this method is appropriate for your investigation. You should also link your choice to the published research. Consider the possibility of doing something different than in the original studies. For example, if the original study is an experiment, maybe and interview would be a good idea. This could be useful for the target population of your choice. The explanation of your research method should include the procedure: sampling technique, sample characteristics, design (if experimental), setting and process. Moreover, an explanation of the relevant ethical consideratons in conducting the study should be included, too. 

Step 7: Write the Data collection of your research proposal by creating one data collecting tool to measure behaviour relevant to the aim of the investigation. The data collecting tool should provide all the necessary technical information for executing the research. A copy of the tool should be provided in the appendices of your work. The explanation of the data collecting tool should be in the main text.

Any data collection tool used for (a) survey/questionnaire, (b) structured interview or (c) controlled observation should contain a minimum of five items. For example, for a questionnaire there should be at least five questions.

Any experimental work should carefully identify independent and dependent variables and how the manipulation of the IV should cause changes in the DV. Experimental work should also pinpoint the type of experiment (true or quasi, independent measures, repeated measures etc.). Moreover, experiments can also utilise for example questionnaires and structured observations as their data collection tools. All these things should be carefully listed and explained in the Data collection part and in the standardised procedures and materials in the Appendices. 

An explanation of decisions made when creating the data collection tool must be included in the research proposal. Moreover, a discussion of potential challenges when collecting the data must be included, too. 

Step 8: Write the Discussion by discussing about the following features in your research proposal:

(1) What are the potential findings of the investigation and implication(s) for future research, policies and/or practices?

(2) How may research bias affect the investigation? These may include, but are not limited to:
- Participant variability
- Practice effects (fatigue/boredom)
- Order effects
- Researcher bias
- Response bias
- Validity of the data collection tool
- Controlling variables
- Demand characteristics/social desirability bias
Apply personal and epistemological reflexivity (see Kognity 1.1.7), if applicable.

(3) What could be one additional method for investigating the same topic?

Implementing the the six basic concepts (bias, causality, change, measurement, perspective and responsibility) is advisable in the Discussion.

Please note! Use the Internal Assessment Criteria as a checklist in finalising your research proposal. 

Step 9: Count the words of your Introduction, Research methodology, Data collection and Discussion with the help of the IBO's EE word count system. Title page, Table of contents, References and Appendices are NOT included in the word count. Make sure that you don't exceed the 2200 word limit.

Step 10: Upload the first submission of your research proposal to ManageBac for annotation by the deadline provided by the teacher. Teacher will annotate your first submission as soon as possible. Remember that this is the only time during your IA process when you receive extensive feedback on your research proposal. The first submission is NOT a draft. It should be a complete work. Therefore, try to be as finished as possible with your IA at this stage.

Step 11: Finish your research proposal with the help of the teacher's feedback and upload the final submission of your IA task to ManageBac by the deadline provided by the teacher. In general, all IA tasks in IB Psychology should be finished by the end of the second term during IB2 year.

Step 12: Relax and enjoy life!