Syllabus - Statistical Methods for Psychology

7/30/2019 Syllabus - Statistical Methods for Psychology

1/5

Psychology 200 Fall 2001

Experimental Methods in PsychologySyllabus

Monday and Wednesday 11:00 - 12:15; Reese 302

Instructor:Mija Van Der WegeOffice: 123 Psych-Ed Bldg.Phone: 538-2086Email: [email protected] Hours: Monday1-3, or by appt.

Lab Director:Lisa BlouinOffice: 143 Psych-Ed Bldg.Phone: 538-2202E-mail: [email protected] Hours: Wednesday 9:30-11, or by appt.

Lab Instructors:Office Hours:Office:E-mail:

Melynda Casementtba140mdcaseme

Kathryn MarszalekTu 3-4140khmarsza

Nicole Gilberttba142nlgilber

Course description:

This course is an introduction to experimental methods. The goals of the course are for thestudent to learn how research is planned, carried out, communicated and critiqued. This course willfocus on developing general research skills that can be applied within any area of psychology.These skills include knowledge of experimental design, statistics, report writing, and ethicalstandards of research.

Although only a few of you may pursue a career as a research psychologist, all of you areconsumers of research from psychology and other scientific disciplines. As such, a major goal ofthis course is to develop your capacity for critically evaluating "scientific evidence" that is

communicated in journals, magazines, newspapers, and news programs. Mastery of the materialcovered should enable students to evaluate the adequacy of research findings reported by others,design research studies of their own, collect and analyze data, and write up APA style researchreports.

Required Textbooks:

Shaughnessy, J. J., Zechmeister, E. B. & Zechmeister, J. J. (2000). Research Methods inPsychology, 5th ed. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the AmericanPsychological Association, 5th ed. Washington, DC: Author.

Textbook Website:

The publishers and author of the textbook have created a supplemental website with usefulinformation on it. It will help you review your statistics if its been a while since you last thoughtabout it, as well as supplying additional thought questions and practice review questions. You canfind the site at http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/psychology/shaugh/.


2/5

Grading:

Your grade in this course will be based on:

Research project 100 pts.

Exams (2) 200 pts.

Lab Exercises 275 pts.Article Presentation 25 pts. (Articles by the MHC Psych-Ed faculty)

Experimental Participation 25 pts. (3 hours of experiments approved by thePsych-Ed Dept)

Article Presentation:

The presentation will be a group project (groups consisting of approximately 4-6 people).You will choose one of the assigned articles and prepare a class presentation of that article(approximately 30 minutes in length). In that presentation, you will discuss the backgroundliterature that the study was based upon, the design and methods (including IVs, DVs, hypotheses,operational definitions, and procedure), results, and discussion. In addition, you will prepare acritique of the study which will include why you liked or disliked the article, criticisms of the paper,

and a proposed follow-up study which either addresses the problems you posed or presents aninteresting continuation of the study. Your group must meet with Prof. Van Der Wege before yourpresentation to the class.

Articles (available on WebCT):

Cohen, J. (1976). Is there a greater incidence of color-vision deficiencies in learningdisabled children? Clinical Pediatrics, 15, 518-522.

Deutsch, F. & Saxon, S. (1998). Traditional ideologies, nontraditional lives. Sex Roles,38, 331-362.

Hollis, K., Pharr, V., Dumas, M., Britton, G., & Field, J. (1997). Classical conditioningprovides paternity advantage for territorial male blue gouramis (Trichogaster trichopterus).

Journal of Comparative Psychology, 111, 219-225.Hornstein, G. & Truesdell, S. (1988). Development of intimate conversation in close

relationships. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 7, 49-64.

Lawrence, S. & Tatum, B. (1997). Teachers in transition: The impact of antiracistprofessional development on classroom practice. Teachers College Board, 99, 162-178.

Packard, B. (2001). When your mothers asks for another book to read: Fostering anintergenerational exchange through shared reading of culturally-relevant books. Journal ofAdolescent and Adult Literacy, 44, 626-633.

Ramsey, P. & Lasquade, C. (1996). Preschool childrens entry attempts. Journal ofApplied Developmental Psychology, 17, 135-150.

Simone, R. & Shilkret, R. (2001). Attachment, guilt, and symptomatology amongincarcerated women. Poster presented at Biennial Meeting of Society for Research in ChildDevelopment, (SRCD), Minneapolis, MN, April, 2001.

Van Der Wege, M. & Clark, H. (2001). Taking turns in face-to-face, telephone, andkeyboard conversations. Manuscript submitted to Discourse Processes.


3/5

Final Research Project:

Your final research project is due in Lisa Blouin or Prof. Van Der Weges office by 3:00pm,December 18, 2001. See the lab schedule for more information on the term research project.

Extension and Lab Absence Policy:

Because (1) the information that you learn in this course is cumulative, and (2) you collaborateoften and your collaborators rely on your input and participation, completion of assignments andattendance of lab sessions is crucial. For these reasons, there are two situations that can acceptablyresult in an extension of the date for assigned work or a missed lab: (1) personal illness, and (2)personal or family crisis. You are entitled to an excused extension or lab absence if either of thesesituations arise. You are not entitled to an excused extension or lab absence if the illness or crisisallows you to complete work for another course. If an extension of lab absence is needed, take thefollowing steps: (1) If at all possible, notify me prior to the class in which the assignment is due orthe lab period that will be missed. (2) If you are eligible for and wish to take an excused extensionor lab absence according to the guidelines above, submit to me a written statement indicating thatyou are acting in accord with Mount Holyokes Honor Code, and that your reason for the lateassignment or the missed lab is consistent with the criteria established above. You do not have tospecify the reason, only that you meet the guidelines. Late work or missed lab periods without a

written statement are unexcused. The assignment date for an excused extension is one week laterthan the original due date unless other arrangements are made. Arrangements must be made forexcused lab periods.

Grading of unexcused late assignments:

Work that is late without a valid excuse (see above) will be treated in the following way: I (or the labinstructors) will read the work and assign it a grade as if it were on time. I (or they) will thendeduct one grade for each day late. For example, an assignment due in class on Oct. 15th that isturned in after class on Oct. 15th or on Oct. 16th given a grade of A would receive a B. Unexcusedwork later than 1 week will not be accepted and will automatically receive a failing grade.

Semester Schedule:

Sept. 10 READING: SZZ, Chapter 1

CLASS: Introduction to CourseIs Psychology a Science?


CLASS: Ethical Issues in ResearchClass exercise in ethical experimentation

Sept. 17 READING: SZZ, Appendix C

CLASS: Scholarly communication of information

Ethical Issues in Research (cont.)GUEST LECTURE: Julie Boisselle


CLASS: Introduction to Experimental DesignSampling and Confounds


4/5


CLASS: Independent Groups Design

Sept. 26 READING: SZZ, Chapter 6, Appendix A

CLASS: Independent Groups Design (cont.)

Oct. 1 READING: Hornstein & Truesdell (1988)Van Der Wege & Clark (2001)

CLASS: Independent Groups Design (cont.)Article presentation and discussion

Oct. 3 READING: SZZ, Chapter 7

CLASS: Repeated Measures Design

Oct. 8 Fall Break - No class

Oct. 10 READING: SZZ, Chapter 7, Appendix A

Cohen (1976)

CLASS: Repeated Measures Design (cont.)Article presentation and discussion

Oct. 15 READING: None

CLASS: Data Collection in class

Oct. 17 READING: SZZ, Chapter 10Deutsch & Saxon (1998)

CLASS: Quasi-Experimental DesignsArticle presentation and discussion

Oct. 22 Exam 1

Oct. 24 Group Presentations



Nov. 5 READING: SZZ, Chapter 8

CLASS: Complex Designs


CLASS: Complex Designs (cont.)

Nov. 12 READING: SZZ, Chapter 8, Appendix AHollis, Pharr, Dumas, Britton, & Field (1997)

CLASS: Complex Designs (cont.)Article presentation and discussion


5/5


CLASS: Observational Research

Nov. 19 READING: SZZ, Chapter 3Ramsey & Lasquade (1996)

CLASS: Observational ResearchArticle presentation and discussion

Nov. 21 Thanksgiving Break no class

Nov. 26 READING: SZZ, Chapter 5Lawrence & Tatum (1997)

CLASS: Unobtrusive MeasuresArticle presentation and discussion


CLASS: Correlational Research

Dec. 3 READING: SZZ, Chapter 4Simone & Shilkret (2001)

CLASS: Correlational Research (cont.)Article presentation and discussion

Dec. 5 READING: SZZ, Chapter 9Packard (2001)

CLASS: Single Case Research DesignsArticle presentation and discussion

Dec. 10 Exam 2

Dec. 12 Poster Presentations

Dec. 18 Final Research Projects DUE

3:00pm in Lisa Blouin or Prof. Van Der Weges office

Documents

Syllabus - Statistical Methods for Psychology