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Part I
Create a Theory of Developmental Psychology
Prior to beginning work on this discussion, please review the required chapters from the Swanson and Chermack (2013) e-book as well as the American Psychological Association (2010) and Baltes (1987) articles for this week.
For your initial post, you will utilize information provided in the required readings and your own research to create your own developmental theory on bullying. A psychological theory is a framework for understanding a particular phenomenon related to human behavior (in this case, bullying) that is developed from a hypothesis and extensive research on that phenomenon. For the purpose of creating your theory, you may address bullying in a broad sense, or choose an aspect of bullying (e.g., cyber-bullying, school bullying, sibling bullying) to address theoretically.
Begin by researching peer-reviewed articles on bullying in the Ashford University Library that were published within the last 10 years. Look for patterns in the data presented in the articles and compile at least three peer-reviewed articles with similar findings on which to build your theory.
•Create a purpose statement that defines the phenomenon, identifies the need for better understanding of this issue, and explains human development in the context of bullying trends.
•Apply the findings within your chosen developmental research articles to the creation of your own research questions and create a hypothesis on bullying behaviors.
•Evaluate the unique scholarly perspectives presented in your research and explain how they support your hypothesis on bullying.
•After creating your hypothesis, you will devise an experiment to test it. Although you will not actually complete the experiment, describe it in detail including the sample, independent and dependent variables, materials needed, procedure, and expected outcomes.
•Analyze any ethical considerations which might affect the viability of your experiment and describe how you would address any ethical concerns regarding the use of your experiment.
•Based on the information you have collected to create your research questions and hypotheses, as well as the expected outcome(s) of your experiment, integrate this evidence into a theory by suggesting a framework for how we should understand bullying according to you, the expert.
•Choose an appropriate name for your theory and generate at least two phrases of terminology to explain the phenomenon in your own words.
•Explain how your theory addresses the hypothesis and expected outcomes of your experiment.
•Apply your developmental theory and associated terminology as “scholarly support” to propose solutions for bullying within your provided framework
Part II Program Proposal
Beginning the Proposal Process
Choose an area of interest. Students will choose a general track and define a specific issue within the track that is of interest to them and presents a contemporary problem to be solved. Please see the Program Proposal Tracks and Topics in Developmental Psychology document to view the tracks (Community, Clinical/Counseling, and Education) and suggested issues within each track for the proposal. Once the track and issue have been chosen, specific criteria will need to be identified.
Identify the target population. Regardless of the track and issue chosen, a target population must be identified for the proposal. Identify the target population associated with the chosen issue. Within the target population, choose the developmental stage that will act as the focus for the proposal. Many programs may directly and/or indirectly influence people in different stages; however, it is important to select the stage that is most applicable to the specific program being proposed. For example, in a program for adults who are caring for their elderly parents, the focus is on the adults (likely in middle adulthood) so a middle adulthood focus would be most appropriate for that program
